SIOUX CENTER, Iowa – In the waning moments, Raelyn Kelty and Sammy Leu cut the lead to a basket twice, but No. 1 Dordt found answers from Macy Sievers to move on to the GPAC Championship, 71-65. The Defenders sank the needed shots from the free throw line to keep the Bulldogs at arm's length inside DeWitt Gymnasium on Saturday (Feb. 28). Ayla Roth made her presence felt with a team-high 14 points.
No. 13 Concordia University, Nebraska Women’s Basketball bows out of the GPAC tournament title race with a 23-7 record.
“It was two different games,” Head Coach Drew Olson said. “First half was great basketball for the fans and for the teams. Just letting the two teams play and decide it out. In the second half, there were a lot of calls, and it made the game choppy. It was still two really good teams and great basketball. We just didn’t make as many plays as we needed to. Credit to Macy Sievers. Anytime we scored, she went ultra-fast and got downhill either to score or dump it down to the posts. I’m really proud of our group for how hard we played, executing the game plan and giving us an opportunity to be there at the end of the game.”
With 3:01 play, the Bulldogs clamped down on defense only allowing one field goal in the back-and-forth ranked clash. The Defenders took advantage of the charity stripe, making seven of their eight tries to close out the game. The combined 38 second-half free throw shots cut up the flow of the 20 minutes compared to the first half's one attempt.
Leu made life tough on the regular season conference champs, piling up nine of her 11 points in the final stanza.
Starting in the first quarter, Concordia went on a 10-0 surge (22-13) made up by four baskets by four different players, which began Ayla Roth’s trey and ended on a Bree Bunting (eight points) runout layup. Kristin Vieselmeyer (eight points), Roth and Gabrielle Wagner would finish the opening half making shots to have a slight edge (32-29) going into the break.
The Bulldogs and Defenders matched intensity with each other throughout the contest as the stat sheet looked similar after 40 minutes. The narrow margins came in the form of field goal percentage (38.6-39.7), three-pointers made (8-7), free throw percentage (86.7-75.0), rebounds (35-38), assists (13-13), points off turnovers (13-13) and bench points (9-9). Concordia had an edge in three-point percentage (42.1-28.0) and free throw percentage (86.7-75.0).
Kelty buried 10 points and pulled down three rebounds. Seven players grabbed at least three rebounds including Roth (six), Vieselmeyer (five), Leu (four), JJ Jones (four), Bunting (three), Kelty, and Makynna Robbins (three).
The Defenders were led by Gracie Schoonhoven (19 points) and Sievers (18) in scoring. The 2024-25 NAIA Player of the Year Sievers performed a triple-double by collecting 12 rebounds and dishing out 10 assists.
Concordia (23-7) will wait to be selected for an at-large berth for the NAIA national tournament. The national selection show will be on March 5 at 7 p.m. CT.