NO. 12 TIGERS COMPLETE 15-POINT COMEBACK TO BEAT NO. 3 MUSTANGS 75-71

Sioux City, Iowa – The Dakota Wesleyan women's basketball team traveled to Sioux City Saturday for their first GPAC matchup of the season with a tough matchup against No. 3 Morningside University. The Tigers completed a 15-point comeback to beat the Mustangs 75-71. Matti Reiner hit a go-ahead jumper with nine seconds left on the clock to put DWU up for good. Jada Campbell recorded her second double-double of the season. Tigers improve to a perfect 3-0 to start the season (1-0 in GPAC) with the Mustangs dropping to 1-2 (0-1 in the GPAC).

Highlighted Player– Matti Reiner -  26 points  13 rebounds  5 assists  2 steals  (8-11 FTM-A)

Stat Leaders:

Points –  Matti Reiner (26)

Assists – Matti Reiner (5)

Rebounds – Matti Reiner (13)

Blocks – Aspen Hansen (1)

Steals – Rynn Osthus & Aspen Hansen (3)

Recap –

The game opened with Campbell winning the tip and immediately going right at the Mustangs defense drawing a foul and cashing in both free throws for an early 2-0 lead. Both squads went basket for basket the first five minutes of the game for a 12-11 narrow lead for the Mustangs after a Reiner made layup and timeout from head coach Jason Christensen. MU closed out the remaining five minutes of the quarter on a 10-4 run to close the first with a 22-15 lead.

To open the second quarter both teams were firing from deep but struggling to find the bottom of the net going scoreless in the first two minutes of the quarter and going a combined 0-4 from 3-point range. Morningside was the first on the board with a layup at the 8:28 mark in the quarter. Reiner ended the Tigers scoreless streak converting 1 of 2 free throws. Later in the quarter the Mustangs would hit a three pointer to increase their lead to a game high 15 points. Jada Campbell recorded the first field goal of the quarter for DWU with 5:04 left resulting in a 33-20 lead for the Mustangs. Dakota Wesleyan closed out the remaining 3:30 of the quarter outscoring Morningside 10-6 for a 39-30 halftime deficit for the Tigers.

Jada Campbell and Reiner both recorded jump shots and a free throw from Reiner in the early minutes of the third quarter, but the Mustangs would match the Tigers effort to keep a 10-point lead two minutes into the quarter. DWU cut the lead to five thanks to Reiner converting two free throws and a big three from Morgan Edelman. MU answered with two baskets of their own to push their lead back to nine with five minutes left. That lead would quickly disappear with the Tiger defense holding the Mustangs scoreless for the remainder of the quarter. Meanwhile, the Tigers went on an 8-0 run to take a 52-51 lead heading to the fourth. Reiner and Hansen both had three during the run with Rylee Rosenquist scoring the other bucket.

The first five minutes of the quarter showed two top-15 teams not backing down with six lead changes and two ties. The Tigers would hold a slim 62-60 lead with 4:40 left in the game to that point. DWU recorded five buckets with all five coming from a different player. Reiner would find herself again at the free throw line going 1 for 2, making her sixth free throw of the game to increase the lead to three, but it would immediately be erased with a Mustang three-pointer to tie the game at 63 with 3:49 left.

Reiner on the ensuing possession pulled up from three missing the mark but Isabel Ihnen came down with the rebound and later in the possession would have a look from deep and bury it to put the Tigers back up three. Mustangs wouldn't go away though making another three-pointer to tie it up again. Like all game, Reiner would find herself at the free throw line this time converting both attempts to put the Tigers up 68-66 with 2:50 left. Both squads again went back and forth to leave it a 71-71 tie game with 40 seconds left and DWU with the ball. The Tigers slow played to chew most of the clock when Reiner missed a jumper and again Ihnen came down again with a massive offensive rebound and would find an open Reiner who wouldn't miss twice putting the Tigers up 73-71 with nine seconds left. DWU got a stop on the defensive side, Hansen grabbed the board and got fouled and made both attempts to ice the game for a 75-71 final.

Head-to-Head (Morningside University)

• DWU is 10-31 with Saturday's win all-time against MU.
• Last time the two teams met was in the GPAC Championship when the Tigers claimed the title with an 83-60 win.

Up Next

• Dakota Wesleyan women's basketball continues their GPAC road games to open the season with a matchup against Jamestown, Wednesday November 16, at 6:00 p.m.