Morris and the ‘Dogs overmatch neighbors to the west

SEWARD, Neb. – Star junior guard Bailey Morris carried over her second-half scoring splurge from Wednesday in powering a 95-55 blowout win over visiting York College on Thursday night. Morris exploded for 20-first half points to put the Panthers (4-6) away quickly inside Walz Arena. Seventh-ranked Concordia raised its record to 10-2 overall.

According to eighth-year head coach Drew Olson, Thursday’s win came attached with better play than in the 29-point triumph a day earlier.

“York’s got a couple injuries that have kind of changed their team around, but I’m happy with the way that we played,” Olson said. “We had a lot better focus than we did last night. We only had 14 turnovers.”

Morris, a 5-foot-4 spark plug from Roseland, Neb., ran circles around the York defense. She piled up a season high 26 points with 17 of them coming over the final 6:45 of the first half. Showing off her versatility, Morris scored in just about every possible manner, including a deep 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer that made the score 53-30 in the Bulldogs’ favor.

“She’s been something special the last two days,” Olson said. “She always is, but there were extra highlights for her (Thursday). Some of the things she’s doing – no one else can. She had a great game.”

Morris, second in the GPAC in assists entering play, also dished out a pair of dimes during Concordia’s 27-14 spurt at the end of the half. After drilling a 3-pointer on the previous possession, Morris looked inside and found junior Ashley Kuntz for a layup that made it 48-26 late in the half.

Morris and Kuntz (eight points and five rebounds) were the leaders in reserve for a bench that racked up 56 points to York’s 26.

“Coming off the bench we try to keep up the defensive intensity because that’s been our focus lately,” Kuntz said. “We want to get stops and the offense will come. We try to keep our gaps and keep talking and keep the energy up so when the next wave comes in they can keep it up as well.”

A night after filling up the nets with 15 treys in the win over Nebraska Wesleyan, the Bulldogs added nine more on Thursday. Six of those splashed through in the first half. Morris, who went 5-for-8 from downtown to frustrate the York zone, is 9-for-15 from behind the 3-point line over the past two games.

Concordia shot 45.8 percent from the field while holding the Panthers to a 39.3 percent clip. In addition, the Bulldogs forced 26 York turnovers and committed only 14 themselves.

Senior Kristen Conahan, who tallied 10 points on Thursday, ended the night with 1,564 career points. That total moves her into seventh place on the program’s all-time scoring chart as she passes Andrea Janssen (1,559 points), who played from 1986-90.

Morris and Conahan were two of five Bulldog double figure scorers. They were joined by junior Tracy Peitz (12), sophomore Jenna Lehmann (10) and freshman Becky Mueller (10). Morris topped the team with five assists while freshman Shelby Quinn grabbed six rebounds to lead Concordia.

All 15 Bulldogs who suited up saw action on Thursday. Ten of them registered in the scoring column with eight going for six or more points.

York, a member of the Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference, was led by the 12 points of Marisa Maher. The Panthers are now 0-4 against GPAC teams.

The Bulldogs will play at home for the third time in four days when Mount Marty (4-6, 0-5 GPAC) visits Seward for a 2 p.m. tip off on Saturday. The Lancers fell, 79-51, on Wednesday to No. 13 Morningside in their most recent outing. Concordia has earned victories in each of the last four meetings with Mount Marty.