ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The Northwestern College women’s basketball team (14-3, 6-3 GPAC) continued Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) play with a matchup against the University of Jamestown (11-6, 4-5 GPAC) downing the Jimmies 72-66.
The first quarter saw the Raiders jump out to a quick 9-3 lead. The Jimmies would hang tough in the first frame thanks to 12 quarter points from Noelle Josephson. Senior guard Jada Cunningham would score 10 of her own to give the Raiders a 19-14 lead.
A three from Devyn Kemble would stretch the Raiders lead to 10 midway through the second quarter. Northwestern would continue to keep the slight edge on the Jimmies as the teams traded baskets. Another made shot from deep, this time via Emilee Danner, would push the lead back to 10. Josephson would answer for Jamestown to cut the lead to seven but a made free throw and then a layup just before the halftime buzzer by Taylor VanderVelde would give the Raiders a 35-25 advantage.
Both teams would come out of the halftime break aggressively on the offensive end. A pair of VanderVelde layups and a three by Cunningham would stretch the lead to 14. Kia Tower would answer with a score of her own but VanderVelde would hit a three that would give the Raiders their biggest lead of the night at 15 with 6:16 left in the third quarter. The Jimmies would answer with a 9-0 run to close the gap to six. Kemble would answer with a big three to stop the run and give the Raiders a nine point lead. Back-to-back threes would get the Jimmies within five but a jumper as the buzzer sounded by Hannah Nerem would give the Raiders a seven point lead going into the final quarter.
The teams would trade baskets to begin the quarter and the Raider lead would hover around six points for the first half of the quarter. Back-to-back layups by Tower and Josephson would cut the lead to three points with 3:32 left. A made free throw by Cunningham would be answered by another Tower layup to cut the lead to a slim two points. Molly Schany would find a cutting VanderVelde who would finish off a tough layup through contact earning a three-point play and extending the Raider lead back to five with just under three minutes to play. A three-point play from Jamestown would cut the lead back to two.
With the slim two point lead the Raiders went to Schany and she delivered, scoring a layup with 39 seconds and giving Northwestern a four point lead. A tough defensive stand would keep Jamestown from getting a quality look and give the ball back to Northwestern. With just over ten seconds to play a costly turnover resulted in a breakaway layup plus a foul would give Jamestown late life. An ensuing missed free throw and Raider rebound allowed Maddie Jones to step to the line with a chance to put the Raiders up two scores. Two made free throws by Jones sealed the win for the thirteenth-ranked Raiders, moving them to 6-3 in GPAC play.
Cunningham (Sioux Falls, S.D./Washington) led the Raiders with 18 points, she was followed closely by fellow senior VanderVelde (Sioux Falls, S.D./Washington) who ended the night with 16. VanderVelde also had seven rebounds and five assists, leading the team in both of those categories. Kemble (Sr., Panora, Iowa/Panorama) finished with 13, including three made threes. Schany (So., Emmetsburg, Iowa/Emmetsburg) rounded out the double digit scorers with 13. Jones (Jr., Twin Lakes, Iowa/South Central Calhoun) filled the stat sheet with five points, six rebounds, and three assists.
Up Next: The Raiders will return to the court Saturday afternoon to take on Hastings College at 2 p.m.
