Women’s basketball bounces back for 2025-2026 season

(From left to right): Juliana Jones, Kristin Vieselmeyer and Ayla Roth celebrate with their teammates at a home game in Friedrich Arena.

Photo credit: Concordia Athletics

By Kai Olbrich

Sports Editor

This story is featured in the January print edition of the Sower newspaper.

Concordia’s women’s basketball team is back to a familiar place, in the top 10 of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics rankings, and is in position to challenge for a Great Plains Athletic Conference title after a 2024-2025 season of growth and lessons.

The Bulldogs are 15-3 overall, 10-2 in the GPAC, and are sitting 10th in the national rankings. This is a far cry from where they were just a year prior. On Jan. 18, 2025, Concordia was 5-9 in conference play and had long since dropped out of national ranking contention.

A Concordia Invitational Tournament victory brought some joy to the middle of that season, and spurred them on to win two GPAC games in a row, but an untimely loss to Mount Marty in the last regular season game put the Bulldogs into the GPAC tournament as the eighth seed. This meant a trip to No. 1 Dordt, where the Bulldogs put up a good fight, but left the game with an 80-66 loss.

Bree Bunting (left) and Raelyn Kelty (right) high-five. Photo: Concordia Athletics.

This year’s turnaround is not a fluke, however, but rather a return to what coach Drew Olson is used to, winning. Olson has 499 career wins through his Concordia tenure and some hardware to show for it. Olson has won six GPAC regular-season titles and six postseason titles, with the crowning achievement of a national championship in 2019.

The 2024-2025 season is viewed by Olson as a growing year, full of struggles and lessons, but one that led to the maturity seen this year.

“We went through a lot last year and grew up. You know, struggle is growth, and we had a lot of struggle,” Oslon said. “But that junior class with Sammy [Leu] and Bree [Bunting] and JJ [Juliana Jones] and Rae [Kelty] and Jos [Bassett] like, they’ve really grown up, taking on bigger roles. I think [freshman] Ayla Roth is huge. I mean, what she does for our team is incredible.”

Roth, a native of Milford, has made her presence known this season, averaging more than 10 points per game and earning a GPAC offensive player of the week honor. Roth also leads the team with 49 assists.

Another GPAC player of the week is Kelty, who on Nov. 4 was honored for her defensive prowess against Graceland University. Kelty leads the team with 76 defensive rebounds.

Leu has been important in all aspects of the game. She shoots well, with 8.5 points per game, and leads the team with 53 steals.

The top scorer for the team has been senior Kristin Vieselmeyer, a three-year starter who got plenty of minutes as a freshman. This year, she leads the team with nearly 12 points per game and has a season high of 23 against Mount Marty in a 66-59 win.

Vieselmeyer’s key to team success this year is trust in the coaches and trust in her teammates.

“The preparation, mentality, and trust in one another and coaches going into this year have made us successful,” Vieselmeyer said. “We continue to encourage and build up one another, as we know the talent and the people we have on this team are special.”

A player who has made an important impact off the bench for the Bulldogs is senior Gabrielle Wagner. Wagner put on a career-best performance on Jan. 14 against Hastings. Her 13 points, five rebounds and two steals helped give Concordia the edge. Wagner is a fan of Olson’s high press and is grateful for how her teammates push her every day in practice.

“I would say we’re practicing so, so hard. And all my teammates, they are just so committed,” Wagner said. “Coach got us bought into this press. I think it’s the press that’s really helping us along, but ultimately, it’s all in God’s hands.”

The Bulldogs sit 15th in the nation in points per game, ninth in assists per game and sixth in steals per game. The team has high hopes for the remainder of the season.

“We’ve got a long ways to go. I like what we’re doing, I like how we’re playing. We’re just continuing to stay focused,” Olson said. “We’re stealing from Miami’s coach, we keep talking about 1-0, 1-0. And that’s all we’re wanting to be, 1-0 after the next game.”

The Bulldogs are more than halfway through the GPAC regular season and will look to maintain the positive form they have found in preparation for the GPAC tournament starting Feb. 25.