WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Results

Dordt College Women's Basketball vs. Morningside

January 21, 2009

Game Media

(Sioux City, Iowa) Dordt's bid to upset the #1 team in NAIA Division II fell short tonight as the Morningside Mustangs held on to beat the Defenders 76-69 in GPAC play. The Mustangs improve to a perfect 22-0 overall and 10-0 in the conference while Dordt drops to 10-10 overall and 5-5 in the GPAC.

Dordt's last couple match-ups with the Mustangs have gone down to the wire and the score was close most of tonight's game as well. The Defenders got off to a good start this evening, getting an early 5-0 lead, looking to knock off the Mustangs and improve on their 4 game win streak. The score was tight most of the half until Morningside went on a little run taking a twelve point lead when Williamson scored her 10th point of the night at 32-20 with 4:16 remaining in the half. Dordt answered right back, scoring 10 straight and cutting the lead to 2 at 32-30 when Soodsma scored on a baseline drive with 19 seconds remaining and the half ended with Morningside up by only 4 at 34-30.

The second half featured some fantastic women's basketball as Morningside built the lead to 9 points on 3 separate occasions with the Defenders never backing down on their effort level and the teams went back and forth for about 6 minutes from the 9 minute mark to the 3 minute mark and a Dordt rally had them trailing by only single point at 64-63 with 2:49 left in the contest. Th Mustangs answered with a 3-pointer to extend the lead back to 4. Dordt cut it to 2 again with a basket by Bre Schneidermann at the 1:28 mark only to have Morningside nail another 3-pointer to extend the lead to 5. Morningside didn't look back as they sealed the win and extended their win streak to 22 making their free throws down the stretch.

Dordt was led in scoring by Amber Soodsma with 20 points to go along with 3 assists and 3 rebounds. Both Kelsie DeNooy and McKinzie Schmidt would finish with double doubles with DeNooy finishing with 19 points and a team high 14 rebounds while Schmidt had 11 points and 11 rebounds. DuMez rounded out the double digit scorers with 13 points to go along with 7 assists.

Dordt's substantial 47-32 rebounding edge was, for all intents and purposes, negated by turnovers as the Defenders turned the ball over 20 times while the Mustangs only gave up the ball on 6 occasions.

Coach Stiemsa, commenting after the game said, "Our effort was unbelievable, I don't think we could have given a better effort. We just need to eliminate mistakes. We played well and every time we got close in the second half they responded with a big 3 pointer, they executed well down the stretch. Our players are pretty determined to improve after this loss and keep getting better."

Morningside was led by Autumn Bartel and Brittany Williamson who each had 16 points on the evening.

Other GPAC Scores from this evening:
Dakota Wesleyan 72
Briar Cliff 61

Nebraska Wesleyan 59
Midland Lutheran 43

Northwestern 69
Mount Marty 60

Hastings 62
Doane 41

Concordia 77
Dana 44

GPAC Standings after tonight's games:
Morningside 10-0
Northwestern 8-1
Concordia 7-3
Doane 6-4
Mount Marty 5-4
Hastings 5-5
Dordt 5-5
Sioux Falls 4-5
Dakota Wesleyan 4-6
Briar Cliff 4-7
Dana 3-7
Midland Lutheran 2-9 .
Nebraska Wesleyan 1-8

The Defenders will head back to Sioux City on Saturday, January 24 as they play Briar Cliff at 2:00 pm in GPAC play.

Dordt's Current Record: 10-10 (5-5)
Opponent's Current Record: 22-0 (10-0)

Team 1st Half 2nd Half Final
Dordt College 30 39 69
Morningside 34 42 76
Dordt Rebounding Leaders Total
Kelsie De Nooy 14
McKinzie Schmidt 11
Kate Du Mez 7
Bre Schneidermann 6
Team Total: 47
Opponent Rebounding Leaders Total
Gass, Dani 10
Williamson, Brittany 5
Nelson, Laura 4
Bartel, Autumn 4
Team Total: 32
Dordt Scoring Leaders Total
Amber Soodsma 20
Kelsie De Nooy 19
Kate Du Mez 13
McKinzie Schmidt 11
Team Total: 69
Opponent Scoring Leaders Total
Bartel, Autumn 16
Williamson, Brittany 16
Miller, Roni 12
Gass, Dani 10
Team Total: 76
Dordt Team Shooting Pct
Field Goals: 27/59 46%
3-Point Field Goals: 4/10 40%
Free Throws: 11/17 65%
Opponent Team Shooting Pct
Field Goals: 29/68 43%
3-Point Field Goals: 6/24 25%
Free Throws: 12/18 67%

For more information, please contact Mike Byker, Sports Information Director, at mbyker@dordt.edu or (712) 722-6301.