SIOUX CITY, Iowa -- In typical Indiana Wesleyan University women's basketball fashion, the Wildcats harassed Concordia (Neb.) University all night long en route to a 56-42 victory in the NAIA Division II National Championship First Round in Sioux City, Iowa.
The Bulldogs were limited to 23.7-percent (14 of 59) shooting for the night and 10.0-percent (1 of 10) from 3-point range.
"It was a great effort tonight all around," said Indiana Wesleyan head coach Steve Brooks. "We set the tone early defensively against a very good team. If we didn't make so many mistakes on the offensive end they would not have scored as much as they did on the other end."
Concordia (21-11) was held to 28 points under their season average of 70 points. Their 42 points scored is a season worst.
The victory came against a seasoned foe in No. 6-seed Concordia, a mem
ber of the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC). The GPAC sent a tournament high five teams to the 32-team field and the conference has won eight of the last nine national championships. Concordia had advanced to the quarterfinals in each of their last five national championship appearances.
No. 3-seed Indiana Wesleyan also faced a stiff defensive effort from Concordia. The Bulldogs pressed the Wildcats the entire game and continually limited the Wildcats to a short shot clock and forced 19 turnovers.
"It was a high pressure game for us, dealing with their press the whole game," said junior guard Kayla Thompson. "We just concentrated on getting to the middle of the floor and using cuts to break it."
Indiana Wesleyan (27-6) used a balanced attack as sophomore guard Rachel Steinbarger and junior forward Elaine Hessel led the team with 12 points apiece. Junior forward LeAnn Douglas added 11, freshman guard Taylor Goshert nine and Thompson finished with seven.
"We came together as a team as nobody stood out. It was a total team effort," said Hessel.
Goshert made a splash i
n her first game on the national stage. After entering the game for the first time, Goshert quickly hit a pair of 3-pointers and soon after that hit an old fashion 3-point play as Indiana Wesleyan pulled away from Concordia in the final 10 minutes of the opening half.
The freshman wowed the entire crowd with her hustle plays, most notably her tumbling crash to the floor over the Concordia bench.
Sophomore center Krystal Stoneking was another Wildcat to make an impact with a high-intensity first half. Although she scored only four points and pulled down three rebounds, she continually wrecked havoc in the paint altering shots, while blocking three.
Thompson added, "Our bench really stepped up tonight and gave us a huge boost. It brought more balance to the team and made us hard to guard."
Indiana Wesleyan controlled the tempo most the night and made it a half court game. IWU controlled the boards with a 43-32 advantage as Hessel led all players with 11 boards while Douglas grabbed eight and Thompson seven.
"We need to rest up on Thursday before our next game on Friday. This was a very physical game due to their constant pressing and our full effort performance," Brooks said.
Now Indiana Wesleyan has Thursday off as the First Round continues. IWU will play at 4:30 p.m. ET on Friday, March 12 in the NAIA Sweet 16 against the winner of No. 2-seed Black Hills (S.D.) State University and No. 7-seed Eastern Oregon University.
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