SEWARD, Neb. – The No. 4 Bulldogs rained down 11 first half treys to blow past No. 5 Briar Cliff, 111-70, from the opening whistle in the midweek (Feb. 25) conference quarterfinal splashing. Concordia University, Nebraska Women’s Basketball shot the lights out in the first quarter (72.2 percent) finishing with a 59.1 shooting clip from field goal range. Raelyn Kelty had the green light and buried seven from deep (7-for-9) in her march to a new 23-point career high.
CUNE moves on to the GPAC semifinal climbing to a 23-6 overall showing this season. The Bulldogs make the second round of the conference tournament for the 13th time under Head Coach Drew Olson.
“It was pretty special,” Coach Olson commented. “When you shoot that well, its going to be really hard to beat ya. I felt like our defensive effort was really good too. Overall, it was just a great performance. She (Kelty) was incredible. She led the way and got us started. When the ball goes in, everybody feels like they can make shots. I thought Sammy played great, hitting four threes. Kristin was solid throughout the game. Ayla does so many things for us.”
In first half, the Kiowa, Colo., native, Kelty dropped 17 points from a razor-sharp 6-for-8 clip from the floor. The junior forward ended the contest with seven 3-pointers, which were the most by a Concordia player since Taysha Rushton went 7-for-7 on Feb. 1, 2023. The Lutheran High alum also pulled down eight rebounds and stole four possessions.
“After a game that we just lost, we came out and played aggressive,” Kelty said. “Just finding open people. We were hot, so we just kept finding our way. That was the big thing, just confidence in our shots and letting them go.”
Kelty grabbed the biggest shovel to end the Chargers conference postseason visit scoring the first eight of 10 points for the home bench in the opening quarter. Gabby Wagner, Libby Hoffman and JJ Jones would drop in treys to help garner a 34-17 lead as Ayla Roth scored right before the buzzer of frame one.
The Dawg pile continued as seven different home whites scored in the second. Bree Bunting (nine points) would start the next surge (10-2) as Wagner, Leu and Roth (16 points) would make good on their tries to reach a 25-point advantage (44-19) early in the second stanza. Concordia would ride the lead out in the second half as the hot shooting (19 threes) didn’t let up in the majority of the outing.
Leu, out of Wahoo High, went 4-for-5 from beyond the arc finishing with 12 points, five assists and two steals. Vieselmeyer (11 points) and Jones (10 points, five rebounds) were consistent in going toward the basket throughout the game.
The Swiss Army Knife special forces crew made their impact in different ways including Wagner (nine points, four assists), Makynna Robbins (10 rebounds), Hoffman (six points) and Abbie Kromarek (six points).
The 2-3 zone defense did what has become the usual forcing 20 turnovers (15 steals) tallying 28 points off stolen possessions.
Briar Cliff’s Abby Lee kept the visitors afloat with 25 points and five rebounds. Mallie McNair couldn’t seem to find her dangerous stroke from inside the arches, shooting 5-for-12 from field goal range, but still mustering 17 points through long-range shots.
Concordia (23-6) will make the trek to the DeWitt Gymnasium to scrum against No.1 Dordt on Saturday (Feb. 28). The two teams will tip off at 3 p.m. CT in Sioux Center, Iowa. The Defenders defeated Mount Marty, 91-63, in their quarterfinal game.