Courtesy of Midland Athletics
FREMONT, Neb. – Coming off a tough loss at home on Saturday, Midland University was back in action on Wednesday night in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) as it faced Doane University. Looking to even the season series with their conference rival, the Warriors kept things close throughout the first half, trailing by just five at the break, before falling to the Tigers by a score of 74-60.
Sarah Shepard started her superb night with the opening basket of the game and then added a three-pointer later. Combining with Aryannah Harrison, who came off the bench to score seven points, the duo led the Warriors who went toe-to-toe with the Tigers. Midland and Doane exchanged runs and the lead five times in the opening quarter. The Tigers took the lead last, with a last-second layup to go up 21-20 at the break.
In the second, Doane tried to pull away as it went on a 7-0 run. Sarah Shepard‘s second three-pointer of the night ended the run and then a third from the sophomore brought Midland within two, 30-28, just past the midway point. After trading baskets, the Tigers closed out the half with a 37-32 advantage.
Just as they did to start the second, Doane grew its lead at the start of the third. A 6-0 run prompted a timeout from the Midland bench as they fell behind by double digits, 43-32.
Rubie Klausen‘s three-pointer off an assist from Jenna Weber sparked a 6-0 run by the Warriors to pull them within five points. That proved to be the smallest deficit over the remainder of the game as the Tigers closed the third with a 13-5 run.
In the final quarter, the Tigers’ lead grew to 16 at the start as they cruised to a 74-60 win to complete the season sweep of the Warriors.
Sarah Shepard led the way with a career-high 21 points, including 5 three-pointers which was also a career best. Aryannah Harrison netted 13 points off the bench while Jenna Webber, who battled foul trouble in the game, scored 11 points. Shepard added 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the season.
“Sarah has really played better, the last few weeks. Doing some great things defensively and has done a great job rebounding the basketball,” commented head coach Shawn Gilbert. “A lot of times, when you’re doing those things when you don’t have the ball, it leads to success when it comes your way. She is in flow. I don’t feel like she’s forcing shots, most of them are really good. She’s been really good the past two or three weeks.”
As a team, Midland was limited to 37.5% shooting (21-of-56) while Doane shot 45.6% (26-of-57) from the field. In addition to outrebounding the Warriors 35 to 32, the Tigers won the battle of points in the paint, 30 to 12.
“They are so good offensively. It’s a lot of assignment basketball on defense,” added Coach Gilbert. “I thought Doane did a good job of breaking us down at times and putting us in difficult situations defensively. Our kids are pretty resilient. They’ve been showing up at practice. We’ve gotten better. We’re starting to make shots, which helps. We had 14 threes the other night, 11 tonight. We’re to the point where we are starting to play good basketball but don’t necessarily know how to win or dig when you really need it. You can play really well in this league and still lose games.”
Midland (5-14, 2-11 GPAC) will look to bounce back this weekend with a road game at Dakota Wesleyan (14-5, 9-4 GPAC). The teams will tipoff inside the World’s Only Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota on Sunday, January 28 at 2:00 p.m. DWU won the season’s first meeting, 63-52, in Fremont. The Warriors will be searching for its first-ever win on the road against the Tigers.
