Sioux Center, Iowa — The Dordt Defenders won their fourth straight game and moved up a place in the GPAC standings on Friday night with a home win over Hastings.
With the score at 11-9 in favor of Hastings early on, Liv Ritter scored five points in a row to give Dordt a 14-11 lead. The Broncos took the lead later in the first 17-16 on a pair of free throws, but Bailey Beckman answered with a three to put Dordt up 19-17. After both teams traded baskets, Hastings closed the first quarter with a three for Katharine Hamburger, giving the Broncos the first quarter advantage.
The second quarter was even throughout until the two-minute mark, as Ashtyn Veerbeek scored to put Dordt up 34-30. The Defenders increased their lead slightly heading into the half, where they led 37-32.
With the score 41-34 in favor of Dordt, Hastings worked their way back to 44-41 on an Ali Smith three. The Defenders then used a 7-0 run completed by a Macey Nielson three-pointer that extended their lead to ten and forced a Hastings timeout.
In the first minute of the fourth, Beckman and Veerbeek hit back-to-back treys that gave Dordt a 64-50 lead, one that stayed above double-digits for the rest of the game.
Dordt shot 47.7% and limited Hastings to 31.9% shooting
The Defenders outrebounded the Broncos 48-38
Bailey Beckman led all scorers with 22 points
The leading scorer for Hastings was Kylie Baumert with 15 points
Ashtyn Veerbeek scored 19 points and grabbed 20 rebounds
Karly Gustafson had 8 rebounds
Dordt will play their second game of the weekend Saturday versus Jamestown at 2:00 PM in De Witt Gymnasium.
