SEWARD, Neb. – After Hastings ballooned its largest lead to 17, the Bulldogs chopped down the advantage and earned a potential game tying shot in the final seconds inside Friedrich Arena (Dec. 11). Concordia University, Nebraska Women’s Basketball showed tremendous heart but would miss the step back to fall by a bucket (71-69). Kristin Vieselmeyer and Kendal Brigham led out front with 14 points apiece.
After losing their third consecutive game, the Bulldogs are .500 (5-5) overall and 3-4 in the conference.
“It shows that we fought hard,” said Head Coach Drew Olson. “We had some toughness in us. We never gave up. We kept battling and gave ourselves a chance. We dug too big a hole, but ultimately, I was really excited to see the fight we had.”
The visiting Broncos used nine 3-pointers on 45 percent shooting (9-for-20) to jump out to a 45-33 lead at the halftime break. After Hastings pushed the lead to 17, the Bulldogs started to claw back into the contest with an 8-3 run ending in a Vieselmeyer trey right before the third buzzer.
The maroon and white held a double digit lead until a Megan Belt bucket from beyond the arc plus a fast break steal and score by ball hawk Abby Krieser. Brigham tagged on six more in a 9-4 stretch putting the Dawgs down four with 27 seconds remaining. The final shot by the Wahoo, Neb., native was a little too strong in the end.
The defense made adjustments in the second half and were able to shut down a red hot Hastings to zero percent (0-for-5) from three in the final two frames. The Seward bench would force 12 turnovers to the visiting squad’s four (17-11 total) clamping down on the defensive end in the last 20 minutes.
Coach Olson said, “In the first half, we lost ourselves a couple of times of like who they are and what our game plan was. After a couple of them hit shots, they got really comfortable and hit a couple tough ones. That’s them. We didn’t help ourselves by losing key shooters to get them confident.”
Olson’s side saw 10 different Bulldogs score as Megan Belt and Raelyn Kelty posted nine apiece and the Kiowa, Colo., product grabbed a team high six rebounds off the glass. Bree Bunting swiped a game leading four steals and Brigham followed with three. Sammy Leu added seven points and three dishes.
The two teams would be virtually even in points in the paint (26-24), points off turnovers (14-13), 3-pointers (9-8) and bench points (31-26) with the Broncos having a slight lead.
Hastings (7-2, 4-2 GPAC) had four players with the majority of their points, all in double digits: McKenna Yates (14), Ann Bose (14), Kiernan Paulk (13) and Macy Bryant (12). The Broncos outshot Concordia by +2.1 percent (42.1-40) via a scorching 57.9 percent second quarter. HC would take 44 boards compared to the Bulldogs’ 30.
Concordia (5-5, 3-4 GPAC) will take on Waldorf (1-5, 2-7 GPAC) in Forest City on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. CT at Hanson Fieldhouse. The Bulldogs are set to face the Warriors for the first time since the 2008-09 campaign.