How they got here: A look at the Tigers’ 2019-20 season
SIOUX CITY, Iowa – With one of the most difficult schedules in the NAIA Division II after playing 13 ranked or receiving votes teams and coming away with 20 wins on the season, the Dakota Wesleyan University women’s basketball team never fell out of the top-20 in the national rankings all season and find themselves back in the NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball National Championships for a fifth straight season.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa – With one of the most difficult schedules in the NAIA Division II after playing 13 ranked or receiving votes teams and coming away with 20 wins on the season, the Dakota Wesleyan University women's basketball team never fell out of the top-20 in the national rankings all season and find themselves back in the NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championships for a fifth straight season.
The Tigers opened the season ranked seventh in the NAIA Division II and won eight of their first 10 games, with the two losses coming by a combined four points. After the two losses, the Tigers dropped to No. 13 in the polls as they took on then-No. 1 Concordia University. After falling to the Bulldogs, DWU won a pair of games before losing to Florida National University in the Cruzin' Classic in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. After the loss, the Tigers bounced back with an impressive win over then-No. 10 St. Xavier University to bring their December record to 5-2.
DWU opened the month of January with a win at home against the College of Saint Mary but lost their next game to then-No. 7 Morningside College. The Tigers responded with a dominant road performance over then-No. 12 Northwestern College with an 82-56 win on the road.
The Tigers split their following six games until the beginning of February, where they reeled off four straight victories, including three on the road. DWU opened the streak with a road win over Briar Cliff University, followed up by a two-point win over then-No. 7 Morningside. DWU added a pair of road wins over Mount Marty College and Doane University.
In the victory over Mount Marty, senior Kynedi Cheeseman recorded a career night. She surpassed 2,000 career points with a free throw in the first quarter, while tallying a career-high 35 points in the game as well. In the following game against Doane, it was fellow senior Sarah Carr's turn to have a historic night. In the 84-48 rout, Carr scored 17 points, moving her into fifth on the program all-time scoring list.
After the four straight wins, the Tigers dropped their next three games, including the opening round of the Great Plains Athletic Conference Tournament to then-No. 12 Dordt University.
The Tigers enter the national tournament with multiple top rankings in the country, including leading the NAIA Division II in free-throw percentage with a 79.2% free-throw percentage. DWU also ranks eighth nationally in field-goal percentage, shooting 45.5% from the field. The third top-10 ranking the Tigers boast is in total assists with 545 assists on the season, good for 10th.
The senior duo of Cheeseman and Carr were each named to the All-GPAC First Team for the second consecutive year. Cheeseman led the conference with 631 points this season and with 20.4 points per game. She also ranks fifth and sixth in those same categories in the country, respectively. Carr led the team with 5.9 rebounds per game and was second on the team with 16 points per contest. The final Tiger named to the All-GPAC Team was senior Makaela Karst who was named to the Second Team. She checked in at third on the team with 10.5 points per game and led the team with 1.5 blocks per game.
