Women’s basketball suffers loss to Defenders in overtime, 94-84
Senior forward Abby Heemstra (13) pays close attention to the position of the ball (photo from previous game).
Photo credit: Josiah Seabaugh
By Cohen Carpenter
In a possible preview of the women’s Great Plains Athletic Conference basketball championship, Concordia proved to be a hard dog to put down as the Dordt University Defenders had to take four quarters plus overtime to send the Bulldogs packing, 94-84 in Sioux Center.
In a bout between the No. 5 Bulldogs and No. 1 Defenders, the two heavy weights went blow-for-blow in the first quarter—both teams exchanging the lead multiple times. However, it was a devastating second quarter, one in which the Defenders made four straight three-pointers, that saw the home the home team lead by 14 early in the third.
Luckily for Concordia, they saved their best ball for the home stretch—eventually tying the game in the fourth quarter and sending it to overtime. A constant throughout most of the second half was coach Drew Olson’s lineup, as for the most part, only seven Bulldogs saw the court: four starters, senior Kendal Brigham, senior Abby Krieser, sophomore Raelyn Kelty, and junior Kristin Vieselmeyer, and rotating in at the forward spot, junior Megan Belt and true freshman Makynna Robbins.
“We’re maximizing our offense and defense,” said Olson. “Megan [Belt] provides a shooter that [Dordt] has to go and guard on the perimeter, which hopefully opens things up for our drives. As for Makynna [Robbins], she was doing a great job defensively — understanding how to guard them man-to-man. [Dordt] is such a good, physical team and we felt like [Robbins] could give us some rebounding and I thought she did a great job.”
Coming into the game, the key to Dordt’s success was no secret. Headlining their starting lineup were two top-ten GPAC scorers and the conference’s best assist-getter: post Janie Van Donge, who was averaging over 20 points a game, and guard Macy Sievers, who facilitated the offense. Concordia did a good job keeping the two in check, forcing the duo to commit 11 total turnovers and holding them to a combined 32 points through five periods and 81 total minutes of play. This came at a cost, however, as halfway through overtime, three Bulldogs had fouled out: Robbins, Krieser and Viselmeyer—putting the nail in Concordia’s coffin.
Coach Olson, when asked after the game if the three foul-outs were simply the nature of a physical overtime game or if he would like to see his squad be more careful down the final stretch he said: a little bit of both.
“It was a really physical game, and both sides were playing really hard,” he said. “[Abby Krieser’s] fouls weren’t bad, that was just a product of playing hard. I do feel like we could have been a little more disciplined. I wish Kristin [Viselmeyer], on that baseline when we had [Van Donge] locked up, she kind of reached in there, which was her fourth, and then she bailed out a girl on her fifth foul. A little bit of both in that regard.”
Despite the aforementioned, late-game snafu, Kristin Vieselmeyer did all she could to will the team to a win. The Colorado product had a career high 27 points on an excellent 9-15 shooting from the field and 4-7 from downtown. She also finished tied (with Raelyn Kelty) for the team lead in rebounds with five.
“Kristin had a really good mindset coming into the game of how she could attack their team,” said Olson. “She knew they weren’t going to step on the perimeter a whole lot to guard her. And then she started gaining that confidence, and realized she could score inside as well. She just took advantage of a lot of opportunities tonight.”
Aside from Kristin’s career night, Kendal Brigham remained as consistent as ever from the guard spot. Sixteen points on 5-14 shooting with a team-high four assists and no turnovers has become a seemingly consistent outing for the grad-student who in large part, is the offense’s best creator.
All in all, with the game on the line, Concordia died by a thousand cuts. In the game’s final overtime period, only three total field goals were made—something Dordt was quite content with as they proceeded to make 10 of 11 shots from the charity stripe to close the game out.
“With tonight, I feel like the challenge was keeping our composure,” said Olson. “I feel like we lost it at the end of the second quarter, allowing them to go up 10 at the half. Then the same thing happened in overtime; we get down four, I’m not sure we had the best quality offensive possessions, and then we panic defensively and took some bad fouls. We need to continue to be confident and be composed, even while you’re down—understand the situation and don’t panic.”
With such a sour taste in their mouths with a 5-2 overall and 2-1 GPAC record, Concordia is thankful for two things: one is Thanksgiving right around the corner and the second is a chance to get back in the win column. Midland is coming into town Tuesday night to face off against the Bulldogs in Friedrich Arena. The Warriors are currently 1-5 on the season (1-2 GPAC) and are 0-7 in their last seven meetings against the Bulldogs. Tip off on November 26 is 6pm.
