Sioux City, Iowa — In a game where points were tough to come by and was physical from start to finish the Dordt Defender women’s basketball team found a way to secure a one point win and advance to the program’s first ever NAIA National Championship with a 53-52 win in Sioux City, Iowa on Monday night, March 21.
The Defenders got off to an 8-2 lead with Ashtyn Veerbeek scoring two, Bailey Beckman four and Karly Gustafson two. After a Southeastern timeout the Fire cut into the lead and trailed 12-11 with 2:07 left in the period. A pair of Karly Gustafson free throws made it 14-11 and that’s how the quarter ended.
Dordt’s lead grew to 20-11 on a Janie Schoonhoven basket with 8:55 left in the half but Southeastern rallied and took the lead at 24-23 as part of a 9-0 run. Dordt answered with an Ashtyn Veerbeek two point bucket but Southeastern’s post player, Angela Perry answered with a three. Beckman converted the final field goal of the half as she converted Dordt’s first three-point shot in 11 tries for a 28-27 halftime lead.
Dordt led the entire third quarter, getting up by as many as seven on a Veerbeek bucket and the lead shrunk to 34-33 and was still one at 38=37 before Mya Chmielewski scored on a pair of free throws and Veerbeek knocked in a three-pointer for a 43-37 lead to end the third.
Dordt controlled much of the fourth quarter and Bailey Beckman’s left handed runner put them up 52-43 with 1:46 left in the game. Southeastern answered with a three-point shot at the 1:28 mark and got a three-point play at the 1:23 mark and sent Dordt to the free throw line for a pair of free throw attempts which the Defenders missed. With :30 left in the game Southeastern tied it at 52-52. The Defenders missed with :21 left and Southeastern returned the favor with a miss at the :09 mark. Dordt got a runout chance and Bailey Beckman got fouled with :03 left and made the first of two free throw tries. Beckman missed the second but the ball was batted around and with no timeouts left Southeastern could only muster a desperation shot that was well off the mark.
Dordt was 22-63 from the field for 34.9 percent success and the Defenders were just 2-22 from the three-point arc.
Dordt had a 47-32 rebounding advantage and held Southeastern to 22-57 field goal shooting and 5-14 three-point baskets. The Defenders converted 7-12 free throws and Southeastern was 3-7.
Ashtyn Veerbeek scored 14 with 11 rebounds and had four assists and three steals.
Karly Gustafson scored 13 points with 15 rebounds and Bailey Beckman scored 10.
Mya Chmielewski had six points as did Janie Schoonhoven and Hayden Heimensen had six rebounds and five assists and Macey Nielson had three assists.
Dordt is now 29-8 while Southeastern falls to 33-2 to finish the season.
Dordt will face Thomas More (Kentucky) on Tuesday night at 7:00 in the NAIA National Championship game.
W🏀 | “Looking forward, it’s going to be a battle but the Defenders are here for it. Defender nation has showed up for every single game”
Bailey Beckman & the @dordtdefenders are continuing their battle for the red banner into the championship!#PlayNAIA #NAIAWBB pic.twitter.com/U1aSnUeTO8
— NAIA (@NAIA) March 22, 2022
