The Concordia University, Nebraska women's basketball eclipsed the century mark for the second time this season against Peru State, downing the Bobcats 101-93 on Friday before falling to eighth-ranked Morningside College, 87-68, on Sunday in Sioux City, Iowa. It was a busy and strange weekend for the Bulldogs (8-1, 2-1 GPAC) who traveled to Johnson, Neb., to take on the Bobcats in a non-conference game on Friday night. Peru State, located in Peru, Neb., is unable to play on their campus due to renovations.
After the game on Friday the Bulldogs traveled to Bellevue, Neb., (Omaha) to spend the night rather than returning to Seward before departing for Sioux City, Iowa the next morning. Mother Nature threw the squad a curveball with the first winter storm of the season, forcing the Saturday game to be postponed to Sunday, thus forcing the Bulldogs to return to Seward.
Whether it was the travel schedule or the fact that Morningside is a quality team, the Bulldogs didn't fare as well as one might like on Sunday against the Mustangs.
Concordia opened the game with a flurry, jumping out to a 9-2 lead after a three-pointer by Melissa Tinkham. Morningside then went to work, out-scoring the Bulldogs by a margin of 28-10 over the next 14 minutes.
Trailing by 12 at intermission the Bulldogs would get no closer than that in the second half as the Mustang lead swelled to as many as 26. Morningside hit seven threes in the second half, 11 in the game, to pull away.
Concordia struggled to take care of the basketball throughout the contest, finishing the game with an uncharacteristic 36 turnovers.
Tinkham had a game-high 25 points on 6-of-15 shooting, including five three-point field goals. She also went 8-for-10 from the line and dished out four assists in 37 minutes of work. Whitney Stichka and Jordan Schmoldt each finished with nine points while Libby Hirssig grabbed a game-high 10 boards.
Morningside was paced by Kristi Tighe who had 25 points, 21 coming from beyond the arc where she finished 7-for-10. Autumn Bartel (15), Dani Gass (12) and Roni Miller (10) were also all in double figures.
Against Peru the Bulldogs had six players in double digits, led by Stichka and Stacy Scheer who tallied 20 each. Lovegrove added 13, Tinkham 12 and Hirssig 11 points to go with eight rebounds. Schmoldt rounded out those in double digits with 10.
The Bulldogs are back in action this week taking on bothWesleyans, Nebraska and Dakota, on Wednesday and Saturday. Game times are at 6 p.m. and 2 p.m.