Orange City, Iowa - The No. 8 Dakota Wesleyan University women's basketball team advances to the Great Plains Athletic Conference Championship Game for the third-straight year after a convincing victory over No. 10 Northwestern College, 73-58 in the GPAC Tournament Semifinals Saturday in Orange City, Iowa.
Both teams traded baskets early and used solid defense through the first few minutes of the opening quarter. The Tigers (27-5, 16-4 GPAC) continued their defensive pressure while Amber Bray (Anoka, Minn.) knocked down a three-point basket at the top of the key to give the Tigers the lead, 9-8. DWU received more offense in the closing minutes of the first quarter with back-to-back three pointers by Rylie Osthus (De Smet, S.D.) and Ashley Bray (Anoka, Minn.) as the Tigers closed out the first quarter with an 8-0 run and led 17-12.
Both offenses opened up in the second quarter, as the Red Raiders (22-8, 16-4 GPAC) fought back and got it within one point. Jessica Mieras (Sioux Falls, S.D.) stopped that run with a layup and a 3-pointer to push the lead to 23-19 in favor of the Tigers. Amber Bray nailed another three pointer at the 4:40 mark of the second quarter, giving the Tigers their largest lead of the game to that point and forcing a Northwestern timeout. Chesney Nagel (Springfield, S.D.) nailed a corner 3-pointer near the end of the second quarter as the Tigers went into the locker room with a 36-26 lead.
In the third quarter, the Tiger offense got going early with a nice pass from Kynedi Cheeseman (Alexandria, S.D.) to Ashley Bray for a layup and the foul for the old fashion three-point play. Northwestern came back as they cut the Tiger lead down to four with a 7-0 run. But DWU responded with a 7-0 run themselves as the Tigers pushed the lead back up to 11 points, 50-39. Northwestern continued to make a push at the Tigers, but DWU responded. At the end of the third quarter, the Tigers led, 54-45.
In the opening moments of the fourth quarter, Northwestern once again captured the momentum and went on a 6-0 run to cut the DWU lead to 65-55. However, DWU's ability to respond was key once again with a three-point shot by Cheeseman. Dakota Wesleyan held on the rest of the way with good ball movement and free throws to seal the victory.
Cheeseman led the way for the Tigers scoring 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting, while Osthus recorded 15 points and dished out nine assists and Amber Bray chipped in 13 points for Dakota Wesleyan. DWU finished the ballgame shooting 49 percent from the field, while knocking down 11 3-pointers and shooting 58 percent from behind the arc. The Tigers defense held Northwestern to just 39 percent shooting from the field.
The Tigers will battle No. 2 Concordia University in the GPAC Championship game at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Seward, Neb.