TIGERS COME UP SHORT IN OVERTIME, FALL 81-75 TO NO. 4 DEFENDERS

Mitchell, S.D. – The Dakota Wesleyan women's basketball team falls 81-75 in a physical overtime matchup with No. 4 Dordt University. Matti Reiner hit a game tying shot with a lot of contact at the end of regulation to send it to overtime. Rylee Rosenquist scored a career-high 24 points in the contest to go along with a game-high eight rebounds. Reiner recorded 19 points. DWU falls to 14-6 (8-6 GPAC) with the Defenders improving to 20-1 (14-1 GPAC).

Stat Leaders:

Points –  Rylee Rosenquist (24)

Assists – Morgan Edelman (4)

Rebounds – Rylee Rosenquist (8)

Blocks – Morgan Edelman (1)

Steals –Rylee Rosenquist (2)

Recap –

The first five minutes of the first quarter showed why these two teams are the top two teams in the GPAC for defense with both teams going scoreless. The Defenders struck first getting a jumper to go. Ihnen knotted it up with a pair of free throws but the Tigers were still looking for their first field goal. That field goal came on a Rosenquist layup with her typical strong/physical play around the rim. Both squads would go bucket for bucket to close out the remaining minutes of the quarter leaving it at a slim 12-11 Dordt lead.

Second quarter had the Defenders open on an 8-0 run to take a 20-11 lead. DWU got on the board in the second quarter with a good dribble drive from Rynn Osthus coming off her career-high 18 point effort against Doane. With 5:28 left in the first half Edelman found Reiner open for three that found the bottom of the net. This gave the Tiger offense a spark going on a 6-0 run in the next couple minutes. Dakota Wesleyan throughout the rest of the quarter would chip away at the early nine point lead the Defenders had in the quarter. DWU leaned on Reiner creating space and getting contested shots to fall and Rosenquist physical play around the rim getting layups to fall and crashing the boards. Reiner led with seven points in the quarter alone. Score sat 34-30 Dordt advantage heading to the half.

The second half opened the same way the first half closed, with physical play on defense for both sides and trading basket for basket. Rosenquist scored six straight points for the Tigers attacking the rim and getting contested layups to fall, but not earning any trips to the charity stripe. Dordt jumped out to a 49-40 lead with 2:26 left. Osthus took over on offense scoring five straight points to close out the quarter for a 51-45 DOR lead.

Dakota Wesleyan dominated the fourth quarter holding the Defenders to just eight total points in the quarter. The Tigers forced five turnovers during the quarter, playing their physical brand of basketball. Reiner and Rosenquist led the way in the fourth with Reiner scoring five points and Rosenquist pouring in four. Campbell came up with a clutch contested three during the quarter as well. With 19 seconds left to play Dordt missed a jumper with Rosenquist grabbing the board and a quick timeout from the DWU bench to draw up the final play. The Defenders fouled after five seconds ran off the clock, which drew another timeout from Christensen. Edelman got the ball to Reiner who made a couple dribble moves and pulled up from the left elbow as time expired while taking a shot to the arm and got the shot to go to force overtime. Overtime was all Defenders from the start, with DOR winning the quarter 22-16 and pulling away with the 81-75 victory.

Head-to-Head (Dordt)

• DWU is now 45-29 all-time against DOR with tonight's loss.
• Dakota Wesleyan fell in the first meeting to the, at the time No. 5 Defenders 75-65.    

Up Next

• Dakota Wesleyan women's basketball goes back on the road for two games. First, against Briar Cliff January 28^th, in Sioux City, Iowa with tipoff at 2:00 p.m. Then the Tigers close out their January schedule in Orange City, Iowa, Monday January 30^th against Northwestern with tipoff at 6:00 p.m.