Orange City, Iowa – The Northwestern College women’s basketball team will host Dordt on Wednesday night in the second match-up of the regular season between the two rivals.
Tip-off at the Bultman Center is slated for 6pm. Northwestern has won a season-best six consecutive games and has climbed up to third place in the current GPAC standings with an 11-5 record, 11-8 overall. Dordt sits just one-half game back in a tie for fourth place with an 11-6 conference mark. 12-8 overall.
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Last time against Dordt, Northwestern outscored the Defenders 23-18 in the fourth quarter to gain a 76-69 road win on Dec. 16 in Sioux Center.
Down three (61-58) with just over four minutes left to play, Northwestern scored the next seven points en route to a decisive 14-4 run that put the Raiders up for good. Alexis Toering began the run with two free throws and a Sammy Blum three-pointer put Northwestern in front 63-61 with 2:51 left to go. A pair of free throws from Maddie Jones pushed the Raider lead to four (65-61), also where the lead stood one minute later at 69-65 with 51 seconds left.
Following a Northwestern timeout, Blum knocked down her fourth and final three-pointer for the knockout blow, putting her team in front by seven, 72-65. Jones took care of the rest, draining four consecutive free throws over the final 30 seconds to seal it. Northwestern held Dordt to just three field goals over the final four-plus minutes and forced three turnovers.
Blum led Northwestern with 18 points, making four three-pointers, and Jones netted a career-high 13 points and dished out four assists. The Raiders converted all 10 of its free throw attempts during the final four-plus minutes, led by Jones who went 6-for-6.
Dordt’s Ashtyn Verbeek poured in game-high 33 points and added nine rebounds but was held to nine in the second half. Karly Gustafson recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds and Bailey Beckman added 11 points. Dordt had a slight edge on the boards, 44-39; both teams committed 15 turnovers.
With their 71-58 road win over Doane on Saturday, Dordt moved into a tie for fourth place, along with Briar Cliff, in the current GPAC standings with an 11-6 record. They trail second place Concordia by one game and are 1/2 game in back of Northwestern for third place. Dordt holds a 12-8 overall record and is 5-2 since the start of the new year.
Harmsen is in his third season as the head of the Defenders women’s basketball program. Harmsen was named the GPAC Coach of the Year after leading the Defenders to their first ever national tournament appearance in 2018-19. Prior to his coaching appointment with Dordt, Harmsen served as both a girls and boys basketball coach at Western Christian High School, winning four state titles during his time with the Wolfpack. He returns two starters and 10 players from a 2019-20 team that went 15-7 in the GPAC, 24-8 overall, and qualified for the national tournament.
The Raiders have won six consecutive games, 11 of its last 13, to climb into third place in the GPAC standings with an 11-5 record. Since their five-point loss to Concordia (81-76) on Jan.2, Northwestern has rattled off wins over Mount Marty, College of Saint Mary, Dakota Wesleyan, Doane, Briar Cliff and Hastings.
