SEWARD, Neb. – Saturday’s matchup features one team coming off a national semifinal appearance in Mount Marty and another in the 14th-ranked Concordia University women’s basketball team that hopes to get back to that level. Tipoff inside Walz Arena is set for 2 p.m.
Saturday’s game will be available via the Concordia Sports Network. It will also be carried by 104.9 Max Country with Tyler Cavalli calling the action.
Walz Arena has not been kind to opponents. Eleventh-year head coach Drew Olson’s program is 72-9 at home since the start of the 2011-12 season. So far this season, the Bulldogs have made home victims of Friends University (Kan.) and Oklahoma Wesleyan University, defeating those two foes by an average of 27 points. The home win streak now stands at six dating back to last season.
Olson’s squad has been dominant since the season-opening loss to No. 1 Marian University (Ind.). In Wednesday’s outing, junior Dani Andersen scorched her former team with a game high 20 points (5-for-9 from beyond the arc) in leading a comfortable 89-50 win at previously unbeaten Midland. Andersen tops a balanced Concordia team in scoring (12.8 ppg). Eleven Bulldogs are averaging more than 10 minutes per game through six contests. Stars Mary Janovich (10.5 ppg) and Quinn Wragge (12.3 ppg) have been stellar in the early going. Janovich is one of the primary reasons why Concordia opponents are averaging 25.5 turnovers per game.
On the other side, ninth-year head coach Tom Schlimgen is rebuilding after bidding farewell to standouts Alex Kneeland and Raquel Sutera, who as seniors last season, led the Lancers to the national semifinals. Mount Marty hasn’t had the same firepower this season. Senior guard Logan Wagner is the team’s leading scorer with an average of 9.7 points per game. The Lancers have shot only 37.6 percent from the field, but they’ve limited their opponents to an even uglier percentage (.328). After placing second in the GPAC last season, Mount Marty was picked to finish eighth in the conference in 2016-17.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
Concordia (5-1, 2-0 GPAC)
G – Shelby Quinn (5.7 ppg, 4.7 apg, 3.0 rpg, .889 ft%)
G – Dani Andersen (12.8 ppg, .490 fg%, .500 3-pt fg%)
G – Mary Janovich (10.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.0 spg, 2.5 apg, .444 fg%)
F – Quinn Wragge (12.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.0 spg, .550 fg%)
F – Philly Lammers (10.3 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 3.0 spg, .615 fg%)
Mount Marty (3-3, 0-1 GPAC)
G – Mikayla Prouty (5.5 ppg, 2.2 rpg, .289 fg%)
G – Denae Veldkamp (6.8 ppg, 3.0 apg, .286 fg%)
G – Logan Wagner (9.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.1 spg, .260 fg%)
F – Sammy Kasowski (8.3 ppg, 8.8 rpg, .636 fg%)
F – Kellie Winckler (7.3 ppg, 7.5 rpg, .594 fg%)