Women’s basketball returns to conference play with win over Morningside, 79-67
Photo description: Freshman Raelyn Kelty receives the ball from a teammate.
Photo credit: Esther Molina (photo from previous game)
Darien Semedo
Sower Staff
The Concordia Bulldogs women’s basketball team extended their win streak to 11 with a win over Morningside Mustangs with 79-67 win on the road, overcoming another slow first quarter start.
The sixth rank is the highest mark for the Bulldogs this year in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, as they are one of the hottest teams in the NAIA. A balanced offense and another impressive second quarter were key for the team to continue their success.
On offense, four Bulldogs finished in double digits, led by junior Sadie Powell with 16. Juniors Taysha Rushton and Mackenzie Toomey finished with 12 and 14 respectively, while sophomore Megan Belt scored 11 including three to four from deep.
Lead reserve junior Kendal Brigham finished with seven points but added five assists in 25 minutes. As a team, the Bulldogs shot 32-58 (55.20 percent) from the field including 9-22 (40.9 percent) from deep. The Bulldogs also had an uncharacteristic 19 turnovers, which contributed to Morningside’s early lead and ability to stay in the game.
In their first game back from the Concordia Invitational Tournament title game, the Bulldogs opened the game struggling on defense. In the first quarter, the Bulldogs allowed Morningside to shoot 8-14 from the field, while giving them seven free throw attempts on six fouls in the first quarter.
Since the turn of the new year, the Bulldogs have only led in the first quarter two times in nine games. While the Bulldogs have recovered well as the game settles in, it will be important for the team to find a way to open games better on both sides of the ball.
The Bulldogs came out of the first motivated, allowing a layup at the 8:21 mark then forced a scoring drought until 15 seconds left in the half. This is not the first time the Bulldogs have held a team to under seven points in a quarter during this win streak, showing the Bulldogs are capable of locking teams out of the basket for extended periods of time.
The rebounding battle was tight, with the Bulldogs grabbing one more rebound than the Mustangs 31-30. Toomey led with eight total rebounds, while Powell added seven of her own. The Bulldogs forced 16 turnovers, with Brigham leading the team in steals (four) while Toomey finished her all-around night with three.
Coach Olsen will now prepare the Bulldogs to play Northwestern College (13-8, 9-6) at home in Seward. Northwestern has won their last two, including a 91-43 victory in their last game. The game will be on Saturday, Feb. 3 in Friedrich Arena as the Bulldogs look to get their thirteenth win in a row.
