Women’s basketball set to take national tournament stage Wednesday morning
National Tournament Bracket | Concordia WBB Press Book
SEWARD, Neb. – The Concordia women’s basketball program will play its 31st all-time national tournament game when the ball tips off at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning from the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa. The matchup between the second-seeded Bulldogs and seventh-seeded Olivet Nazarene University will be the first game of the 2014 NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball National Championships.
Game info
No. 8 Concordia vs. No. 25 Olivet Nazarene
Wednesday, March 12 | 8:30 a.m.
Sioux City, Iowa | Tyson Events Center
Live webcast: WatchNAIA.com (fee required)
Live stats: Dakstats.com
Tickets: available at arena ticket office or via Ticketmaster.com
On-campus watch party: TLEC Auditorium (hosted by SLO)
Statistical breakdown
| Concordia | Olivet Nazarene | |
| 82.3 (14th) | OFF PPG | 108.1 (1st) |
| 73.7 (95th) | DEF PPG | 98.6 (131st) |
| .426 (28th) | OFF FG% | .389 (78th) |
| .424 (111th) | DEF FG% | .456 (129th) |
| .317 (45th) | 3PT FG% | .317 (45th) |
| 7.1 (20th) | 3PT FG/GM | 17.1 (1st) |
| .716 (35th) | FT% | .703 (50th) |
| -0.1 (67th) | REB +/- | -6.3 (113th) |
| +6.0 (5th) | TO +/- | +8.7 (1st) |
| +8.6 (33rd) | Scoring +/- | +12.5 (18th) |
| 12.1 (6th) | SPG | 21.6 (1st) |
| 2.4 (60th) | BPG | 5.7 (5th) |
| .922 (22nd) | AST/TO | .876 (37th) |
Individual statistical leaders
Concordia
Scoring: Bailey Morris – 19.4 ppg
Rebounding: Tracy Peitz – 6.0 rpg
Assists: Morris – 4.0 apg
Steals: Peitz – 2.53 spg
Blocks: Peitz – 0.5 bpg
Olivet Nazarene
Scoring: Miranda Geever – 19.3 ppg
Rebounding: Malory Adam – 6.8 rpg
Assists: Geever – 4.9 apg
Steals: Geever – 4.0 spg
Blocks: Adam – 2.84 bpg
National tournament history
- Concordia is making its 13th appearance at the national tournament in program history. In its first 12 appearances at the national championships, Concordia has posted a record of 18-12 with three trips to the national semifinals and four quarterfinal finishes. The Bulldogs are 8-4 overall in first-round games, including a 7-2 mark in the last nine first-round contests. All of the program’s 13 national qualifying seasons have come since 1992 – the same year the NAIA split into two divisions for both men’s and women’s basketball.
- In the program’s first 30 games at the national tournament, the Bulldogs have averaged 70.3 points per game while allowing an average of 64.3 points. The school record for most points in a single tournament game came in 2003 when Concordia defeated William Jewell (Mo.) 88-44 in the second round. The Bulldogs’ stingiest defensive effort occurred in 2005 when they held Western Baptist to just 28 points in a 70-28 first-round victory.
- Head coach Drew Olson has been at the controls for each of Concordia’s past six national tournament appearances (including 2014). Olson also helped the Bulldog men to two national tournaments as a player and was part of three such trips to the grand stage as an assistant men’s coach at Bellevue University (Neb.). Eleventh-year assistant coach Amy Harms has served on Olson’s staff for all six national tournament appearances since 2008 and played in national tournaments in 2002 and 2003 as a member of the Bulldogs. The 2003 squad owns the school record with 36 wins and advanced to the national semifinals.
- Olson became the fifth coach in program history to lead the Bulldogs to the national tournament when he made his first appearance as head coach in 2008. Now with six national tournament appearances, Olson has three more than Todd Voss for the most among head coaches in school history. Here are the all-time records for Bulldog coaches at the national tournament:
- Todd Voss: 8-3 (three appearances; two Fab Fours; one quarterfinal finish)
- Drew Olson: 7-5 (six appearances; one Fab Four; two quarterfinal finishes)
- Mark Lemke: 2-2 (two appearances; one quarterfinal finish)
- Micah Parker: 1-1 (one appearance)
- Carl Everts: 0-1 (one appearance)
Previous meeting with Olivet Nazarene
Wednesday’s game will mark the first meeting between Concordia and Olivet Nazarene since Nov. 12, 2004, when then head coach Todd Voss’ Bulldogs cruised to a 107-54 victory. Behind recent Concordia Hall of Fame inductee Kari Saving (20 points), the Bulldogs shot 56.5 percent while holding the Tigers to 22 percent. Saving was one of five Bulldogs to score in double figures.
The two teams have never played each other in a national tournament game.
Scouting Olivet Nazarene
Under second-year head coach Lauren Stamatis, Olivet Nazarene (22-10) employs a hyper up-tempo style that emphasizes shooting early in the shot clock and full court defensive pressure. The style lends to statistical extremes as the Tigers rank first among all 131 NAIA Division II programs in scoring, 3-point field goals per game, turnover margin and steals per game. On the other hand, Olivet Nazarene is last in the nation in scoring defense and 129th in field goal percentage defense.
The Tigers are led by Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference first team selection Miranda Geever, a senior guard who tops the team in scoring, assists and steals. Olivet Nazarene’s experienced backcourt also includes senior Liz Bart, the national leader with 141 3-point field goals. Even frontcourt standout Malory Adam shoots from distance (3.4 made 3-point field goals per game).
Outlook
It’s safe to say there will be plenty of scoring in a game that features two teams that rank in the top 15 nationally in points per game. Provided the Bulldogs handle the Olivet Nazarene press, there will be plenty of opportunities for Bailey Morris, the GPAC Player of the Year. Concordia will have had 10-straight days without a game by the time it plays on Wednesday, meaning Morris should be ready to play an entire 40 minutes if necessary. Even so, Drew Olson will need help from his bench in what figures to be a contest played a break-neck pace.
The Tigers and Bulldogs have three common opponents on their respective schedules. Olivet Nazarene dropped games against both Briar Cliff and Morningside but defeated Concordia-Ann Arbor. The Bulldogs are a combined 4-1 against those three teams.
Potential second-round matchups
The winner between Concordia and Olivet Nazarene will play either third-seeded Southwestern College (Kan.) (28-4) or sixth-seeded Eastern Oregon University (23-9) at 8:30 a.m. on Friday. No. 9-ranked Southwestern won the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season title with a perfect 18-0 league mark. No. 23 Eastern Oregon, a member of the Cascade Collegiate Conference, also won its regular-season title.
