SEWARD, Neb. – The top-ranked Concordia University women’s basketball team has hopes of continuing to feast on turnovers this Thanksgiving week. In the only outing of the week, the Bulldogs will be at 19th-ranked Morningside for a top 20 matchup at the Rosen-Verdoorn Sports Center (Allee Gym) in Sioux City, Iowa, for a 6 p.m. CT tipoff on Tuesday. The road team actually won in both of last season’s meetings between the two perennially strong programs.
Tuesday, Nov. 26 at No. 19 Morningside (6-2, 3-1 GPAC), 6 p.m.
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Head coach Drew Olson’s squad enters the week at 7-0 (3-0 GPAC) and fresh off an 81-65 exhibition victory over NCAA Division II Metropolitan State University of Denver as part of a weekend stay in Denver. While the Bulldogs have mopped the floor with their NAIA competition thus far, they have also proven more than competitive with NCAA foes. Concordia fell in double overtime, 85-83, to Big East member Creighton University on Oct. 22. The Bluejays won at the University of Nebraska on Sunday. In Olson’s tenure, the Bulldogs have beaten squads from each level of the NCAA (NCAA D-I, D-II and D-III).
The statistics to this point are crazy good for Concordia, which is averaging 104.7 points per game. Among all NAIA Division II squads, the Bulldogs rank first in scoring margin (+50.0), first in turnover margin (+17.4), first in steals per game (26.3), first in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.40), second in scoring offense (104.7), second in field goal percentage defense (.302), third in 3-point field goals per game (13.1), third in field goal percentage offense (.493), seventh in scoring defense (54.7) and seventh in blocks per game (4.4). This season, Concordia has twice re-set the program record for points in a single game with 123 versus Simpson University (Calif.) and 127 versus College of Saint Mary.
In that outburst last week against College of Saint Mary, 12 Bulldogs had seven or more points. Balance has been a theme for a squad that has played its entire roster in several games. Concordia will continue to be especially tough to beat if it keeps shooting 36.2 percent from 3-point range. Off the bench, Delani Fahey has been a dead-eye shooter – 20-for-40 from beyond the arc. Three Concordia players are averaging in double figures: Philly Lammers (13.7), Grace Barry (12.1) and Fahey (11.2). Barry is the team’s catalyst that ranks in the top 10 nationally in steals (3.86) and assists (6.14).
Now in his 19th season as head coach at Morningside, Jamie Sale has guided the program to four national championships. This year’s squad owns three wins over ranked opponents: No. 5 Dordt, No. 17 Saint Xavier University (Ill.) and No. 24 Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.). The Mustangs were limited to a season low 69 points in this past weekend’s home loss to 16th-ranked Hastings. Morningside has been a high scoring team at 87.5 points per game. The leader is Sydney Hupp, who averages a double-double (18.3 points and 10.1 rebounds). The Bulldogs have won six of the last seven versus the Mustangs.
Projected Lineups
Concordia (7-0, 3-0 GPAC)
G – Grace Barry, Sr., 5-7 (12.1)
G – Riley Sibbel, Sr., 5-9 (6.1)
G – Mackenzie Koepke, So., 6-1 (9.6)
F – Colby Duvel, Sr., 5-9 (7.9)
F – Philly Lammers, Sr., 5-11 (13.7)
Morningside (6-2, 3-1 GPAC)
G – Jordyn Moser, Sr. 5-5 (5.3)
G – Sierra Mitchell, Jr., 5-6 (17.1)
G – Grace Meyer, Jr., 5-8 (2.9)
F – Sydney Hupp, Sr., 6-1 (18.3)
F – Sophia Peppers, So., 5-10 (13.1)