No. 22 Concordia University 85, Nebraska Wesleyan University 39 (view stats)
The No. 22 Concordia University women’s basketball team earned an impressive 85-39 victory over Nebraska Wesleyan on Wednesday evening in Seward. It was the final regular season game for Concordia. All 13 players scored, and the Bulldogs celebrated Senior Night in style with the huge win. Concordia improved to 20-9 overall and 11-7 in GPAC play with the win. Nebraska Wesleyan slipped to 7-17 overall and 4-13 in conference play with the loss.
Concordia led from start to finish, and the Bulldog defense was solid once again. The Bulldogs forced 36 Wesleyan turnovers and scored 41 points off of those turnovers. Concordia also totaled 50 points in the paint and held a 19-3 advantage in second chance points. The Bulldogs finished with 14 fast break points compared to just two for the Prairie Wolves, and the Concordia bench outscored the NWU bench 55-4 on the night.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 38-22 lead at halftime. Concordia had 22 points in the paint and went 17-of-31 from the field, while Wesleyan hit just 8-of-21 shots in the opening 20 minutes. The Bulldogs led by as many as 20 in the first half and settled for the 16-point halftime lead.
Concordia poured it on in the second half. At one point, the Bulldogs went on an 18-0 run. Every player on the Concordia roster played at least eight minutes in the contest, and the Bulldogs cruised to the easy win.
“Everyone on the team played extremely hard tonight,” said senior TaLisa Krejci. “We put a great game together tonight, and it was a lot of fun.”
Concordia connected on 36-of-75 shots overall for 48 percent. The Bulldogs were 8-of-30 from three point land and a perfect 5-of-5 from the foul line. The Bulldogs held a 39-32 rebounding advantage and totaled 21 steals on the night. Nebraska Wesleyan was just 16-of-47 from the field for 34 percent. The Prairie Wolves were 2-of-21 from deep and 5-of-6 at the foul line.
Kristin Miller scored a game-high 14 points for Concordia in the win. Brittany Johnson added 13 points and six steals, while Angela Kuca hit four 3-pointers and scored 12 off the bench for the Bulldogs. TaLisa Krejci dished out four assists and added five steals, and Katie Rich also handed out four assists on the night for Concordia in the win.
Mallory Shanahan scored 13 points and blocked three shots for Nebraska Wesleyan. Shea Rasmussen added 12 points for the Prairie Wolves.
Concordia will take part in the GPAC Tournament next week. Official pairings for the tournament will be released on Saturday evening.
“We have a lot of confidence going into the conference tournament,” commented Krejci. “A couple of losses earlier this season really turned things around for us. We’re playing really well right now, and hopefully we can carry that momentum into the postseason.”