DWU women can't hold late lead in loss to Dordt

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SIOUX CENTER, Iowa — Dakota Wesleyan University rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit and held a late lead but couldn’t come away with a win Wednesday night.

The Tigers lost to Dordt College 60-59 in a Great Plains Athletic Conference women’s college basketball game.

Elizabeth Lamb, who finished with a team-high 17 points, knocked down a 3-pointer with 51 seconds left in the game to give the Tigers a 59-58 lead. Wesleyan got a defensive stop and Dordt fouled Kim Johnson, who went to the free-throw line for a one-and-one. She missed the front end with 19 seconds left and Dordt’s Jasmin Schelhaas scored a layup with 13 seconds to go for the final one-point lead.

DWU couldn’t find the basket in its final possession and dropped to 18-9 overall and 9-8 in the conference.

“We had two opportunities to score, missed both shots, game over,” DWU coach Jason Christensen said. “This was probably the toughest loss this year that I’ve encountered.”

DWU trailed 34-26 at halftime but scored 15 straight points after the break to take a seven-point lead, the Tigers’ largest advantage of the game.

Dordt battled back for its own seven-point lead with 6:35 to play, but the Tigers eventually took the lead and couldn’t finish the game.

Christensen pointed to rebounding and getting to the free-throw line as the differences in the game.

The Tigers were 2-of-6 from the foul line and were outrebounded 38-29.

“We didn’t get the job done in the paint,” he said. “You hold a team to 60 points and can’t find a way to win on the road. This one is tough.”

DWU was 11-of-23 from behind the 3-point line and had only 13 turnovers in the loss.

Amanda Hart had 14 points, Johnson had eight points, five rebounds and four assists and Katie Johnson and Celeste Beck each had six points.

Dordt, which was 25-of-54 from the field, was led by Kayla Broekhuis’ 17 points. Elise Maresh had 14 and Kara Van Dyke had 13.

The Tigers play Nebraska Wesleyan University in their next game, which is at 2 p.m. Saturday in Lincoln, Neb.

“We have three games left,” Christensen said. “We’ll have to find a way to win. It’s more mental now than anything. You have to be more mentally tough than the other team.”

DORDT COLLEGE 60,

DAKOTA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY 59

DWU (18-9, 9-8 GPAC)

Elizabeth Lamb 6-8 0-0 17, Amanda Hart 5-13 0-0 14, Brittany Hills 2-5 0-0 4, Kim Johnson 4-12 0-2 8, Katie Johnson 2-6 2-4 6, Lexie Christensen 0-0 0-0 0, Taylor Piper 2-4 0-0 4, Celeste Beck 2-4 0-0 6. Totals: 23-55 2-6 59.

Dordt (15-13, 9-9 GPAC)

Kayla Broekhuis 6-12 0-2 17, Jasmin Schelhaas 1-3 0-0 2, Kara Van Dyke 6-10 0-0 13, Brianna Spronk 4-9 0-1 8, Elise Maresh 6-8 2-2 14, Danelle Boone 0-3 0-0 0, Emily Neuman 0-0 1-2 1, Jessica Jelsema 0-4 0-0 0, Jaimie Kok 2-5 0-0 5. Totals: 25-54 3-7 60.

Halftime: Dordt 34-26. 3-point goals: DWU 11-23 (Lamb 5, Hart 4, Beck 2), Dordt 7-15 (Broekhuis 5, Van Dyke, Kok). Rebounds: DWU 29 (Johnson 5, Piper 5), Dordt 38 (Kok 7). Assists: DWU 14 (Hills 4, Kim Johnson 4). Dordt 15 (Broekhuis 4, Kok 4). Turnovers: DWU 13, Dordt 17. Total fouls: DWU 11, Dordt 12. Technical fouls: None.

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