SEWARD, Neb. – After a week on the road, the top-ranked Concordia University women’s basketball team is ready to get back inside friendly Walz Arena. Though the Bulldogs will be at home, that doesn’t necessarily mean this week will be a breeze. It’s rather the opposite, Concordia will host 13th-ranked Hastings on Wednesday before welcoming No. 16 Jamestown to Seward on Saturday. Head coach Drew Olson’s squad is coming off of GPAC road wins over Midland and Briar Cliff.
This Week
Wednesday, Nov. 14 vs. No. 13 Hastings (3-1, 2-0), 6 p.m.
-Webcast: Concordia Sports Network
-Radio: 104.9 Max Country
Saturday, Nov. 17 vs. No. 16 Jamestown (5-1, 2-0), 2 p.m.
-Webcast: Concordia Sports Network
-Radio: 104.9 Max Country
The powerhouse Connecticut program of NCAA Division I currently owns the longest active home win streak for in collegiate women’s basketball with 78-straight wins when playing in Storrs, Conn. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs have won each of their last 38 home games since suffering a defeat at Walz at the hands of Doane on Jan. 27, 2016. (Southeastern University of Florida has an active home win streak of 37). Concordia went 17-0 at home during the 2016-17 season and then 15-0 at home in 2017-18. Since the beginning of the 2011-12 season, the Bulldogs are a combined 104-9 at home.
Senior Quinn Wragge continues to move up the program’s all-time charts. With her 19 points in the win at Briar Cliff, Wragge passed Melissa Tinkham (1,452) for 10th on the career scoring list with 1,459 points over 112 career games. Wragge also ranks in a tie for ninth all-time in rebounds (662) and is 17th in steals (199). Just a junior, Philly Lammers has climbed to 17th in rebounds (605), 18th in steals (188) and 22nd in points (1,085).
While Lammers and Wragge are the returning All-Americans, they have plenty of a help. At the point guard position, transfer Grace Barry has been an immediate impact player. She’s averaging 11.7 points and 4.33 steals and has a rock solid assist-to-turnover ratio of 31-to-16. On the flip side, turnovers provide the biggest explanation for Concordia’s dominance so far (average victory margin of 30.5 points). The Bulldogs have forced an average of 38.8 turnovers per game. They flustered Briar Cliff into 42 turnovers over the weekend in Sioux City, Iowa. Five Concordia players rank in the top 10 of the GPAC leaderboard in steals per game.
Hastings has regrouped from a season opening loss at Kansas Wesleyan University by winning three games in a row. The Broncos have a particularly challenging week ahead with road trips to No. 1 Concordia and No. 2 Dakota Wesleyan. The stretch follows blowout home wins over Doane and Mount Marty to open conference play. Head coach Jina Douglas’ squad brought back one of the league’s top players in Shandra Farmer, a defensive hound. Farmer is also the team’s leading scorer at 12.3 points per game.
Jamestown will has a midweek bye before making the trek to Seward on Saturday. The Jimmies have a new head coach in Thad Sankey, a CUNE graduate who had spent the previous five seasons as the head women’s basketball coach at Concordia University, Ann Arbor. Sankey also spent one season as a graduate assistant under Olson. Sankey inherited a program that has been a perennial national tournament qualifier. The Bulldogs and Jimmies have met in the national quarterfinals in three of the past four seasons with Concordia coming out on top in each instance. This Jamestown team prefers to grind it out. It is holding opponents to 51.5 points per game and 34.9 percent shooting.
Projected lineups
(Scoring average in parentheses)
Concordia (6-0, 2-0)
G – Grace Barry, Jr., 5-7 (11.7)
G – Taylor Cockerill, So., 5-9 (16.7)
G – Riley Sibbel, Jr., 5-9 (5.7)
F – Quinn Wragge, Sr., 6-0 (13.2)
F – Philly Lammers, Jr., 5-11 (11.8)
Hastings (3-1, 2-0)
G – Shandra Farmer, Jr., 5-3 (12.3)
G – Emma Grenfell, Jr., 5-6 (8.5)
G – Sophia Pankratz, Jr., 5-7 (4.3)
F – Mackenzie Willicott, Sr., 5-9 (12.0)
C – Kennedy Sander, Jr., 6-0 (6.0)
Jamestown (5-1, 2-0)
G – Mya Buffetta, So., 5-4 (5.0)
G – Paige Schmidt, Jr., 5-8 (6.0)
F – Jory Mullen, Sr., 6-0 (8.2)
F – Emma Stoehr, So., 5-8 (8.2)
C – Jenna Doyle, Sr., 6-3 (7.5)