Park City, Kansas — Dordt will travel to Park City, Kansas to play in the Opening Round of the NAIA National Championship. First round play will be on Friday, March 11 and the second round is on Saturday, March 12. Dordt will play IU-East in the first round at 2:00 while the first game at noon on Friday features Sterling vs Eastern Oregon.
The Red Wolves are 25-7 this season and finished 14-3 in the River States Conference where they finished third to Rio Grande and Midway.
The Defenders are 24-8 this season and finished 16-6 in the GPAC. Dordt won 15 games in a row from December 18-February 12 and finished as runner-up in the GPAC for the programs best ever finish in the 22 year old league.
The Defenders are outscoring teams 74.1-64.8 and outrebound teams 39.2-34.1. The Defenders are converting 43.8 percent of their field goals and 32.2 percent of the three-point shots they take. Dordt has gotten to the free throw line 622 times and makes 76.5 percent while opponents have gotten to the free throw line 453 times.
Ashtyn Veerbeek earned GPAC Player of the Year honors after averaging 18.2 points per game with 9.3 rebounds and she averages 3.2 blocked shots per contest. Veerbeek is converting 49 percent of her field goal attempts and has made 26 three-point shots. Bailey Beckman scores 13.0 points per game and coverts 40.3 percent of her three-point shots with 58 made this season. Karly Gustafson adds 12.0 points per game and averages 7.5 rebounds and is converting 51 percent of her field goals. Janie Schoonhoven’s scoring average is 7.9 on 63 percent field goal shooting and she gets 5.6 rebounds. Hayden Heimensen is good for 7.3 points per game and Mya Chmielewski is at 6.8 points per game and Macey Nielson has made 36 three-point shots and averages 4.0 points per game.
The winner of this game will advance on to face the Sterling-Eastern Oregon winner on Saturday at 3:00 for the right to move on to the 16-team final site in Sioux City, Iowa.
