Balanced Attack Leads Warriors to Season Sweep of CSM

FREMONT, Neb. – Midland University’s women’s basketball team was able to pull out a win against College of Saint Mary (CSM) Flames on Wednesday evening with a final score of 72-61.
Junior Peyton Wingert came out firing for the Warriors, scoring the first nine points in the first three minutes of the game. Midland took a seven point lead early and held onto it to close the quarter. They would not look back, never trailing the rest of the game.
CSM tried their best to catch up to Midland but foul trouble plagued them in the first half, with four players being whistled for two fouls each. Great post play from the Warriors’ Katy Gathje and Erin Prusa, down low that helped Midland stay in the lead. A 9-0 run with buckets from Makenna Sullivan, Emma Shepard, and Lexis Haase put them up 16 points in the second quarter. They would go into the break
In the third quarter, Midland hit their first three shots but CSM found an answer in the halftime locker room, responding to their coaches by outscoring the Warriors in the quarter 18-17. The Flames shot 8-12 (66.7 percent) from the floor compared to Midland’s 5-15 (33.3 percent) which helped CSM cut the lead down to nine.
Midland got back to what they did early and garnered a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter. The Flames heated up again and looked to come back and burn the Warriors, battling back to make it a three-point game with 1:59 left on the clock. Head coach Shawn Gilbert would use a pair of quick timeouts to settle his team down though.
Coming out of the huddle, Gathje converted on a big layup and then Midland made three straight defensive stops, not allowing CSM to score the rest of the game. Lexi Kraft and Wingert sealed the win at the free-throw line, going a combined 6-of-6.
The Warriors had four players in double-digits on the night. Emma Shepard and Wingert had 14 points each while Gathje and Haase each had 13 points.
Midland (12-6, 9-6 GPAC) will have a quick turnaround as they take on (RV) Briar Cliff (12-5, 10-4 GPAC) in a rematch this weekend. Tipoff is set for 2:00 p.m. inside the Newman Flanagan Center on Saturday, January 16. The Warriors won the first meeting 63-54 back on December 12.