MITCHELL, S.D. – Concordia University, Nebraska Women’s Basketball traveled to South Dakota on Thursday night (Jan. 2), breaking in the new year at the Corn Palace. The Bulldogs' shooting went cold after the opening quarter and led to a loss to the Tigers, 77-65. Megan Belt reached a new career high (15) in points despite the road fall.
Head Coach Drew Olson’s squad drops to 7-6 overall and 4-5 in the conference.
“Dakota Wesleyan is a good team, and they shot well,” said Olson. “I feel like we lost ourselves in the third quarter. We didn’t have good purpose offensively. Our team is really good at fighting, we just have to learn from the past and how to win some of these games. We don’t have a consistent five or six playing well every game. We have to get to that point if we are going to beat some of these teams.”
Up 34-32 at the break, the Bulldogs found themselves down late in the third quarter after an 8-0 run by the home team. Emma Yost would power the run and spark the Dakota Wesleyan second half offense with 12 points in the last 20 minutes.
Concordia would fight back cutting the lead down to six with five minutes to go via layups by Abby Krieser and Belt. The Tigers ran away in the final minutes from a 9-3 scoring drive with much coming from the charity stripe.
Belt hit her career high on a drive to the basket in the fourth frame. The Papillion, Neb., native’s previous high was 14 from her freshman season on Jan. 5, 2023 versus Mount Marty.
Olson said, “Megan was great on both ends. She hit some big shots and defensively she was really good for us. I thought Abby Krieser was really good and Sammy Leu played really well.”
Krieser attacked the paint and totaled 12 points, her second highest tally this season. Sammy Leu and Kendal Brigham hit 10 and eight points, respectively. Brigham, out of Wahoo, Neb., gathered five assists and four rebounds as Kristin Vieselmeyer collected nine points (6-for-8 FT). Raelyn Kelty led the team in rebounds (eight).
Starting off with a 21-point first quarter, the Bulldogs slowed down on offense and shot 37 percent (14-for-38) from the field for the final three. The Tigers were able to best the visitors with a +8 (20-12) point differential off turnovers.
Avery Broughton’s big time performance led Dakota Wesleyan (11-3, 6-2 GPAC) with 22 points (8-for-10 FG), six rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks. Emma Yost (16) and Shalayne Nagel (14) followed in points. The Tigers shot 54 percent (28-for-52) from the field and 88 percent (15-for-17) from the free throw line. They will host the College of Saint Mary on Sunday afternoon.
Concordia will take on No. 1 Dordt in less than 48 hours inside Friedrich Arena on Saturday (Jan. 4). Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. CT in Seward. The two teams went into overtime in Sioux Center on Nov. 23 with the Defenders prevailing (94-84) in extra time.