Women’s basketball defeats Flames at home, 106-59

Junior guard Abby Krieser grabs a loose ball that was rolling down the court to reset the offense. 

Photo credit: Courtney Wright

By Isaac Dawson

The Concordia women’s basketball team won their game against the College of Saint Mary Flames this Wednesday in Friedrich Arena with a final score of 106-59.

The game took off with Concordia’s possession, who promptly lost the ball off a missed shot but achieved instant redemption by pulling off an excellent press to take it right back. After one more missed three, the Bulldogs started the ball rolling with their first among many three-point shots. Three clean shots from downtown followed these failed possessions, the passing game making for several great opportunities to form a large gap in the score.

The Flames were unable to keep up with the momentum of the game, losing the ball over and over to Concordia’s defense. The occasional jump shot was all they managed to pull off in the first quarter, the Bulldogs continuing to dominate outside the paint. A few good shots from Concordia and a buzzer beater three from Saint Mary finished off the quarter at 31-16.

Quarter two marked the epic journey of amazing rebounds for the Bulldogs, recovering every missed shot for a recovery layup for the first several possessions. A good steal and fast break allowed for another two points by junior Abby Krieser for a score of 37-22. Concordia’s defense remained impenetrable until the halfway mark, stealing or rebounding for every attempt by the Flames. Saint Mary’s defense answered, keeping the Bulldogs at 43 points until three minutes were left in the half. Each team matched each other on points until the half finished off with Concordia’s very own buzzer beater three-point shot, making the score 57-35.

Following senior recognition for the Cheer team at half time, the Bulldogs kept the fire going with a rebound and a three. The Concordia offense was unrelenting, with junior Taysha Rushton pulling off a layup and a three for a 30-point lead on the poor Flames. A series of turnovers and threes ended in a double three by freshman Sammy Leu, another showing of great defense on each side preventing most points except for a decent number of free throws and a three for icing on the cake by Saint Mary to bring the score to 79-48.

The home stretch began with another good start by Concordia, two layups countering a Flame’s three pointer and a three by Rushton widening the lead as Saint Mary missed two of their own attempts. A contest of thievery began at the seven-minute mark, steal after steal finally ending in a somewhat less exciting series of missed shots until junior Kendal Brigham and sophomore Megan Belt put up a solid three pointer each to make the score 94-54. This set off a spectacular three-off that brought the Bulldogs into the triple digits, an amazing series of three deep shots from junior Reece Snodgrass finishing off the game with a final score of 106-59.

The team as a whole scored 39 of 75 field goals (52 percent), 20 of 39 three pointers (51 percent), and had 32 assists. They made eight of ten free throws and had 41 rebounds.

Leu and Belt were the leading scorers for Concordia, sitting at 22 and 19 points respectively; freshman Bree Bunting took home the most rebounds at seven and Brigham with the most assists at six.

The basketball team now has a GPAC season record of 14-3. Their next game is an away game against the Dakota Wesleyan Tigers University at Mitchell, South Dakota on Feb. 11 at 1 p.m.