SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The 17th-ranked Concordia women’s basketball team suffered a 76-69 defeat to No. 12 Briar Cliff on Wednesday evening. The GPAC quarterfinal game was a rematch of this past weekend’s matchup of the two teams. Freshman Quinn Wragge put up double digits in the scoring column for the 10th straight game after scoring 21 points.
The Bulldogs drop to 22-9 this season while the Chargers move to 22-8.
Head coach Drew Olson said, “We played really hard. I was really proud of the girls. We were right there in the fourth quarter after we took a five point lead. We kind of had this feeling where we were like, ‘We’ve got a chance, we can do this.’ It just came down to the defensive end and doing the little things. Right when we got that lead, they (Briar Cliff) answered with an AND-1 and that allowed them to get back in the game. If we could’ve gotten a stop there, it would have been a different game. Overall, I’m glad we are finding ourselves and competing hard again.”
Concordia shot .373 from the field and .357 from 3-point range. The Bulldogs went 21-for-23 from the free throw line for an impressive 91.3 percent mark. Briar Cliff shot .434 from the field and .444 from behind the arc. The Bulldogs crashed the boards, recording 41 team rebounds compared to the Chargers’ 27 rebounds.
Leading all players in scoring was Wragge with 21 points. The freshman tacked on five rebounds to her line. Also scoring in double digits was Shelby Quinn who contributed 16, two shy of her career high. Quinn also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out six assists. Senior Becky Mueller was just shy of a double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds.
“Last weekend we weren’t ready for the pressure that they brought,” Olson said. “The very first time we played them this year, they didn’t pressure us like that. This time around we knew what to expect so we handled a little bit better. We stepped up and made some shots. It just comes down to us getting stops in the fourth quarter.”
The Bulldogs led through the opening of the first quarter until the Chargers scored a fast break layup off a Concordia turnover. Briar Cliff then held the lead or let the score get knotted up through the half and into the third quarter.
The lead change switched four different times during the third period but the Chargers held a one point lead going into the final frame. Quinn and Laurel Krohn scored back-to-back 3-pointers to put the ‘Dogs up by five, which was their largest lead of the quarter. A pair of jumpers from Briar Cliff’s McKenzie Shipley and Jessi Corrick gave their squad a one point lead with just under eight minutes to play. Shortly after, Wragge drained a pair of free throws to tie the score at 62. The Chargers then made a jumper and took off to hold the lead the remainder of the game.
The Concordia women’s basketball team will now have to wait until Tuesday, March 2 to see if they will be seeded in the NAIA Tournament. The national tournament takes place in Sioux City, Iowa at the Tyson Event Center March 9-15.