Courtesy of Midland Athletics
FREMONT, Neb. – After just over a week off for Thanksgiving, Midland University got back on the hardwood as they hosted No. 7 Concordia University in a Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) matchup. The Warriors fell behind early as they fell to the Bulldogs by a score of 100-64 inside the Wikert Event Center.
Concordia raced out to a 10-0 lead in the first two-plus minutes as Midland turned over the ball on four of its first five possessions. Emma Shepard broke the goose egg as she converted on a layup with 7:12 to go in the quarter. After a few minutes of trading baskets, the Bulldogs dialed up their defense as they pushed their lead to 22-4.
Kennedy Darner sparked a 10-0 run for the Warriors as they narrowed the gap in the closing minutes of the first. Aryannah Harrison had four points in the rally while Gabby Beauperthuy connected on a pair of free throws. As the quarter horn sounded, Concordia led 27-15 thanks in part to nine turnovers.
A 5-0 run by Midland to start the second narrowed the gap to single digits. Ellie Bovaird connected on a three-pointer while Beauperthuy hit Jenna Weber for a layup just past the opening minute, making it 27-20. The deficit remained right around 10 points through most of the second. Over the final five minutes, Concordia closed on a 10-4 run to take a 50-33 lead into halftime.
Following the break in action, the Bulldogs kept building their lead behind hot shooting and solid defense. In the third, they shot 10-of-20 from the field with 4 mad three-pointers while limiting the Warriors to 4-of-17 with another four turnovers. With ten minutes left in the contest, Concordia led 75-46.
In the final quarter, both coaches emptied their benches to get their reserves some minutes. Ten different Bulldogs saw the floor while the Warriors matched with ten of their own. Delanie Tally and Lexie Glosser made the most of their time. Tally scored six points in the quarter while collecting four offensive rebounds, three of which came on one trip down the court. Glosser scored five points, playing a majority of the quarter in her first appearance of the season after being out with an injury.
For the game, Kennedy Darner led Midland with 10 points off of 4-of-6 shooting, 2-of-3 from behind the arc. Ellie Bovaird added 9 points, making all three of her field goals, two from long range, and going 1-of-2 from the foul line. Rounding out the top scorers for the Warriors were Jenna Weber and Aryannah Harrison with 8 points each.
Delanie Tally was joined by Asia Bryant and Darner atop the rebounding column with 4 boards each. Gabby Beauperthuy, the Warriors’ season rebound and scoring leader pulled down 3 boards and was limited to just 2 points while dealing with foul trouble.
Concordia’s hot shooting throughout resulted in a 49.3% (37-of-75) from the field with 15 three-pointers as a team. Midland shot 39.7% (25-of-63) overall with 9 triples. The Bulldogs controlled the paint with a 44-37 rebound margin and a 42-18 advantage in points in the paint.
Midland (2-6, 0-4 GPAC) will look to bounce back on Saturday as they host Dakota Wesleyan (4-2, 3-1 GPAC). The Warriors will face the Tigers at 2:00 p.m. in their final home game of the semester on December 2 in Fremont.
