Seward, Nebraska — The Northwestern College women’s basketball team was outscored 24-8 in the second quarter in their 83-70 loss to No.17 Concordia in a GPAC semifinal played Saturday afternoon in Seward, Neb.
The loss drops the Raiders to 17-10 on the season and it now becomes a waiting game to see if head coach Chris Yaw’s squad will get an at-large bid into the NAIA Championship. Concordia earns its 20th win of the season, improving to 20-7, and will play No.1 seed Morningside in Tuesday’s GPAC Championship game.
A basket by Molly Schany gave Northwestern its final lead, 17-16, with two minutes left to play in the first quarter. Concordia closed with the final seven points of the quarter for a 23-17 advantage, the final three coming off a three-point play by Taylor Cockerill as time expired.
The Bulldogs continued their newly found momentum and outscored Northwestern 9-1 at the start of the second quarter for a 32-18 lead with 5:25 left in the half. Three pointers from Taysha Rushton and Sadie Powell extended Concordia’s advantage to 45-23 and the hosts led 47-25 at halftime. Concordia shot 47% from the field, 41% (7/17) from the three-point line in the first half compared to Northwestern’s 28% shooting and 1/14 (7%) from the arc.
The teams played even in a high scoring third quarter that saw both teams put up 23 points. Northwestern closed the deficit to 12 after a three-pointer by Sammy Blum finished off a 12-3 run with five minutes to go but would get no closer.
Northwestern shot 37% for the game, improving to 47% over the final 20 minutes, led by Schany with 14 points. Both Devyn Kemble and Alexis Toering scored 10 points each. The Raiders turned a rebounding deficit at the break into a 43-37 advantage for the game, led by Toering, Blum and Taylor VanderVelde all with seven boards.
Rushton led Concordia with a game-high 21 points, showcasing her perimeter shooting with five three-pointers. Cockerill added 18 points, six rebounds and six assists.
