Rushton passes 1,500-point mark as women’s basketball wins another successful match

Photo description: Junior Taysha Rushton dribbles the ball down the court. 

Photo credit: Kayla Korb (photo from previous game)

Cohen Carpenter

Sower Staff

Concordia stayed perfect Wednesday night against Midland in another dominant performance, besting the Warriors 100-62 in Fremont.

The victory moves the Bulldogs to 6-0 on the year and 4-0 in conference play. In those six contests, Concordia boasted the ninth-most potent scoring offense in all of NAIA and the second-most in the GPAC, averaging 92 points a game.

The rout began early, when the Bulldogs would boast a 22-4 lead halfway through the first quarter. The Warriors would fight back, managing to bring the game within 10 in the second quarter. However, Concordia would ultimately pull away in the second half and never give up the lead.

The leader of this potent offense, both on Wednesday night and the season as a whole, has been junior Taysha Rushton. Rushton moved her career point total to 1,505 against Midland, making her the 12th Bulldog in program history to surpass the 1,500-point plateau. She accomplished this feat due to a 20-point, three-assist effort on what proved to be one of Rushton’s more efficient outings of the season—shooting a neat 8-16 from the field and 4-8 from downtown.

Junior Abby Heemstra had a perfect night off the bench. She went five for five from the field and two for two from the charity stripe, netting her 12 points with five rebounds to boot.

Heemstra was not the only Bulldog getting busy off the bench, as freshman Sammy Leu continued to dazzle from beyond the arch. Leu would make three of seven from downtown—good for a shooting percentage of 42.9 from three-point land.

Much like most Concordia contests, the game was a well-rounded affair, with the defense getting a fair amount of time in the spotlight. The Bulldogs would force the Warriors to turn the ball over 19 times Wednesday night, continuing a season-long trend of rattling opposing offenses.

On the year, Concordia’s opponents are turning the ball over nearly 29 times a game on average. Steals account for a good majority of those turnovers – a statistic that was again emphasized on the court against Midland. Of the 19 Warrior turnovers, 11 would be stolen by the Concordia defense netting the Bulldogs 32 points off turnovers.

Perhaps this well-rounded approach to the game of basketball is what has netted the Bulldogs a number seven national ranking. This is the highest Concordia has landed in the coaches’ poll since the 32-2 2019-2020 GPAC conference champs squad that was ranked number one nationally.

Concordia will look to extend their perfect start to the season Saturday, December 2 against Jamestown. Tip off will be 2 p.m. at Friedrich Arena.