ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The (RV) Northwestern College women’s basketball team (2-0, 0-0 GPAC) returned to the court Tuesday night after an 11-day hiatus and upset the No. 11-ranked Pioneers from MidAmerica Nazarene (0-2, 0-0 HAAC) 67-58.
“I’m really proud of the toughness and effort our team showed tonight,” stated Head Coach Kristin Rotert. “MNU is a difficult matchup both inside and outside and I thought we executed our defensive plan very effectively for a majority of the game. Offensively we were unselfish with our ball movement and found open shooters.”
The Raiders faced a motivated Pioneer squad coming off of a loss to Haskell Indian Nations University. The first quarter saw low shooting percentages from both squads. The Raiders were paced by senior guard Taylor VanderVelde (Sioux Falls, S.D./Washington) with four of the eight first quarter points. The Raider defense limited the Pioneers to 16.7% shooting with all five of their points coming from Makayla Gooch.
The Raider offense came alive in the second quarter behind the inside duo of Molly Schany (So., Emmetsburg, Iowa/Emmetsburg) and freshman Maren Nerem (Edgerton, Minn./Southwest Minnesota Christian) who combined for seven points. Heading into the halftime break Northwestern held a 27-16 advantage.
The third quarter saw an offensive push from the Raiders led by senior Jada Cunningham (Sioux Falls, S.D./Washington) who had nine third quarter points on 3-3 shooting from beyond the arc. VanderVelde was efficient as well with eight points on 4-5 shooting for the quarter. The Raiders shot 63.6% for the quarter and held the 44-36 lead.
The final period of play would prove to be a back-and-forth battle with the Raiders stretching out their lead only to see the Pioneers battle back to within 7. Schany was able to go a perfect 4-4 from the field in the final frame and posted 10 points. Maddie Jones (Jr., Twin Lakes, Iowa/South Central Calhoun) was able to chip in six point of her own. Made free-throws down the stretch finished off the upset bid and sealed the 67-58 win for the Raiders.
Schany paced the offensive attack with 18 points on 7-10 shooting. The backcourt duo of Cunningham and VanderVelde added 15 points each. Jones nearly posted a double-double from the point guard position with 10 points and a new career high nine rebounds. Emilee Danner (Jr., Westside, Iowa/Ar-We-Va) filled the stat sheet with a team-leading five assists along with six rebounds.
Up Next: The Raiders will begin play in the Pizza Ranch Classic on Friday, Nov. 12, against Valley City State University with tip off set for 6:00 p.m.
