Women’s basketball defeats Dakota State away, 64-54
Junior forward Kristin Vieselmeyer (44) tries to outrun an opponent (photo from previous game).
Photo credit: Josiah Seabaugh
By Maddy Peters
Sports Editor
The No. 5 Concordia women’s basketball team traveled north to face the No. 6 Dakota State University Trojans in Madison, S.D. Saturday afternoon, leaving with a 64-54 win.
The Bulldogs triumphed against their first ranked opponent since their 71-68 loss against No. 10 Southern Oregon University the previous week. Concordia prevented points with a stalwart defense while still slipping in points where they could.
The first quarter was neck-and-neck between the two teams with hard defense. Concordia shot 6-11 on field goals and was 2-4 on three-pointers. The Bulldogs maintained a narrow lead of 17-16 at the end.
Concordia outscored Dakota State in the second quarter 17-10 with a wicked 9-0 run in the last three minutes of the half. The team went into the locker room with an eight-point 34-26 lead.
The Bulldogs’ run continued into the third quarter, ending at 14-0 nearly halfway through. Concordia outscored Dakota State again 17-26, but the deficit built up in the second quarter was too much for the Trojans to match. Concordia kept the lead 51-43.
Junior Megan Belt was the key to the fourth quarter with two big threes midway through the quarter to keep the Trojans at bay. Both teams ramped up their defenses and stopped scoring opportunities. Concordia still outshot Dakota State 13-11, but it was the lowest-scoring quarter for the Bulldogs.
Concordia shot 24-50 on field goals for the day and was 10-19 on 3-pointers. Belt was the top scorer of the day with 12. All of her points came from threes. Sophomore Juliana Jones was the only other Bulldog to come up with double digit points, scoring 10.
Senior Abby Heemstra was the top rebounder with eight of the 28 team rebounds. Graduate student Kendal Brigham had the most assists with seven of the team’s 15 rebounds. Senior Abby Krieser and sophomore Raelyn Kelty had two steals apiece to help make up the seven team steals.
The Bulldogs are now 2-1 overall and begin their Great Plains Athletic Conference season against Morningside University in Seward at 2 p.m.
