Women’s basketball drops top-10 matchup to Dakota Wesleyan, 78-69
Freshman Ayla Roth prepares to take a free throw (photo from previous game).
Photo credit: Kai Olbrich
By Kai Olbrich
Sports Editor
Despite good perimeter shooting, the No. 10 Concordia women’s basketball team was defeated by No. 9 Dakota Wesleyan for the second time this season. The score on Sunday was 78-69 in favor of the Tigers.
After some back and forth in the first quarter, the Bulldogs went down by 10 points and could never fully recover. Despite coming within six at multiple times throughout the rest of the match, the Tigers always had a response ready.
The Bulldogs shared the scoring duties with four players exceeding 10 points. Junior Bree Bunting led the team with 16 points, shooting 42 percent from the field.
Junior Juliana Jones had a big impact off the bench as she put up 13 points and led the team with seven rebounds in her 20 minutes of action.
Junior Raelyn Kelty helped the Bulldogs in all aspects of the game. Kelty contributed 15 points, two assists, three steals, and six rebounds. She was also a perfect 4-4 from the free-throw line.
Fouling was where the Bulldogs got themselves in some trouble. Jones fouled out with six seconds left in the game, and Kelty picked up her fourth in the last minute of action. Four Bulldogs found themselves with three fouls, which gave Dakota Wesleyan ample attempts from the charity stripe.
Concordia shot better from free throws by scoring 11-13, but the Tigers had twice the number of attempts, going 17-26, which made up for their worse percentage.
The Bulldogs also lost the rebound game pretty decisively as the Tigers picked up 34 to Concordia’s 23.
The Bulldogs are 15-4, 10-3 Great Plains Athletic Conference, and will play at home on Wednesday, Jan 21, against Midland, perhaps with a repeat of the 98-37 demolition job earlier in the season. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.
