WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Results

Dordt College Women's Basketball vs. Sioux Falls

December 12, 2009

Game Media

(Sioux Falls, South Dakota) The Dordt women lost their final GPAC contest prior to Christmas break as they dropped a close game to Sioux Falls 55-54 this afternoon to fall to 6-8 overall and 1-4 in the conference. Leading 54-51 the Lady Defenders gave up the final 4 points in the loss and could not get a potential game winning shot to fall on their lost possession.

Dordt College trailed 28-25 at halftime after a first half that featured three ties and a four point lead by the Defenders early in the half at 12-8. The two teams struggled to find their offensive stride through out with the two teams struck in single digits until the 9:21 mark when Julia De Koekkoek knocked down a three-point shot for the 12-8 lead.

Trailing 39-37 with 12:02 left in the game the Defenders went on an 11-2 run to take a 48-41 lead with 8:38 left in the game. The run included another three point shot by De Koekkoek and she also had a pair of free thorws. An Amber Soodsma jumper gove the Defenders the seven point lead. Sioux Falls proceeded to run off the next seven points for a 48-48 tie with 5:11 left. Dordt was able to get in front 54-41 with 2:30 left but an Elizabeth Hildreth basket cut the lead to 54-43 with 2:00 left. Hildreth scored again after two Dordt turnovers at the :54 left. A Brianna Spronk attempt in the lane came up just short with :26 left. A foul ensued on the next possession and Holli Aggen missed both free throws. Dordt took the ball down and worked the ball to De Koekkoek who had a shot blocked out of bounds with :05 left. After two timeouts the Defenders got the ball in to McKinzie Schmidt who found Kate Du Mez for a free throw line jumper that wouldn't go down with Dordt losing by the single point.

Julia DeKoekkoek had 14 points and 5 rebounds in the loss, while Soodsma had a team high 12 rebounds to go along with her 12 points. Kate DuMez dished out 5 assists and had 8 points.

The Defenders outrebounded the Cougars 45-36 while Dordt turned over the ball 18 times and the Cougars gave up 15.

"We could not expend more energy or put forth more effort in 40 minutes than we did tonight," remarked Dordt Head Coach Craig Stiemsma. "I can't say enough about how good our effort was, it was tremendous, we just couldn't get some key shots to go and didn't get a couple of important stops late in the game. It was a tough loss and we will prepare hard this week to face our opponents in Michigan next weekend."

The Lady Defenders will next travel to Grand Rapids, Michigan to play Spring Arbor on Friday, December 18 at 5:00 pm.

Other GPAC scores from today:
Hastings at 91
Briar Cliff 81

Mount Marty at 75
Morningside 73

Dakota Wesleyan at 78
Midland Lutheran 73

Nebraska Wesleyan at 58
Doane 61

Northwestern at 77
Concordia 64

Dana at 54
York College 44

GPAC Standings

Hastings 5-0/13-2
Northwestern 5-1/9-2
Mount Marty 4-1/11-1
Sioux Falls 4-2/8-5
Morningside 4-2/9-6
Briar Cliff 3-2/9-2
Concordia 3-3/9-4
Doane 2-3/6-6
Dakota Wesleyan 2-4/5-8
Nebraska Wesleyan 1-3/3-6
Dordt 1-4/6-8
Dana 0-4/1-10
Midland Lutheran 0-5/3-11

Dordt's Current Record: 6-8 (1-4)
Opponent's Current Record: 8-5 (4-2)

Team 1st Half 2nd Half Final
Dordt College 25 29 54
Sioux Falls 28 27 55
Dordt Rebounding Leaders Total
Amber Soodsma 12
McKinzie Schmidt 10
Bre Schneidermann 6
Julia DeKoekkoek 5
Team Total: 45
Opponent Rebounding Leaders Total
Hildreth, Elizabeth 10
Schuler, Dominique 4
Mendlick, Abby 4
Team Total: 36
Dordt Scoring Leaders Total
Julia DeKoekkoek 14
Amber Soodsma 12
McKinzie Schmidt 10
Kate Du Mez 8
Team Total: 54
Opponent Scoring Leaders Total
Hildreth, Elizabeth 14
Baxa, Chelsa 12
Hofer, Jamey 10
Schuler, Dominique 0
Team Total: 55
Dordt Team Shooting Pct
Field Goals: 22/61 36%
3-Point Field Goals: 4/11 36%
Free Throws: 6/8 75%
Opponent Team Shooting Pct
Field Goals: 21/55 38%
3-Point Field Goals: 7/21 33%
Free Throws: 6/17 35%

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