Wesleyan women beat No. 25 Hastings
This win, one over a nationally ranked team, was the win Jason Christensen was looking for.By: Luke Hagen, The Daily Republic
- Lexie Christensen
This win, one over a nationally ranked team, was the win Jason Christensen was looking for.
The Dakota Wesleyan women’s head basketball coach said Saturday’s 75-53 win over No. 25-ranked Hastings at the Corn Palace will give his team confidence for the rest of the season. Before the holiday break, Christensen set a goal to have his team ranked nationally.
“We beat a rated team. … This shows us we can play with any team in the conference night in and night out,” said Christensen, whose team is 8-3 overall. It won its second Great Plains Athletic Conference win of the season when it beat the Broncos (6-5, 2-2 GPAC).
The Tigers, who didn’t score a field goal for the first five minutes of the game, only trailed by six points because of a strong defensive effort. It was a trend throughout the game.
Wesleyan struggled to score points at times, but pressure defense – leading to 25 Hasting turnovers – eventually won DWU the game.
“When offense wasn’t going our way, we had to come together and get defensive stops,” said guard Celeste Beck, who had 12 points off the bench.
Forward Kim Johnson finished with a game-high 23 points, 10 of which came in the first half to help the Tigers pull out to a nine-point lead with 5:23 left before the break. DWU led by as many as 10 points in the first 20 minutes. Amanda Hart, who knocked down four 3-pointers, finished 16 points. Her free-throw line jumper to open the second half put DWU up 39-32.
Hastings got within 3 on a 7-2 run, but Wesleyan’s defense shut down the Broncos for three minutes and eventually built its lead to 14.
“When it’s two good basketball teams, it’s going to be a game of runs,” Christensen said. “We were able to battle it out.”
From there, the closest Hastings got was six, but Johnson took over inside late and the Tigers pulled away. In the second half, Wesleyan held Hastings to 20 percent shooting from the field.
The Tigers, who shot 42 percent from the field, are now one of four teams in the conference with one or no losses. At 6 p.m., the Tigers can take another step toward getting nationally ranked with a win. DWU hosts No. 4-ranked Morningside at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Corn Palace.
DAKOTA WESLEYAN 75,
No. 25 HASTINGS 53
Hastings (6-5, 2-2 GPAC)
Cami Bruckman 2-3 4-7 8, Chelsey Morten 2-6 0-0 4, Brittney Wong 4-11 1-2 9, Halley Samuelson 0-3 0-0 0, Melissa Thompson 2-12 2-2 6, Tanasia Uhrig 0-3 0-0 0, Hallie Bauer 3-6 1-2 7, Frankie Petersen 2-8 0-0 5, Erin Vanderpool 0-0 0-0 0, Josey Schomp 3-8 2-4 4, Laurel Zwiener 3-3 0-0 6. Totals: 21-63 10-17 25.
Dakota Wesleyan (8-2, 2-1 GPAC)
Elizabeth Lamb 4-10 0-0 9, Taylor Piper 1-5 0-0 2, Amanda Hart 5-11 2-2 16, Brittany Hills 1-3 3-4 5, Kim Johnson 7-15 9-11 23, Lexie Christensen 0-0 0-0 0, Celeste Beck 3-6 5-6 12, Katie Johnson 2-4 4-4 8, Shekela Quarless 0-0 0-1 0, Abbey Fujan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-54 23-28 75.
Halftime: DWU 37-32. 3-Point Goals: Hastings 1-13 (Petersen 1), DWU 6-18 (Hart 4, Lamb 1, Beck 1). Rebounds: Hastings 43 (Thompson 10), DWU 36 (Hills 7). Assists: Hastings 6 (Schomp 3), DWU 16 (Beck 4). Turnovers: Hastings 25, DWU 16. Total fouls: Hastings: 25, DWU 17. Technical fouls: None.
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