The Dakota Wesleyan University women's basketball team entered Wednesday's game against Northwestern College hoping to slow down the fastpaced Red Raiders and their star, guard Debbie Remmerde.
Instead, Northwern proved why it was ranked the No. 2 team in the nation today as it cruised to a 103-71 victory over the Tigers Wednesday night at the Corn Palace.
"They're a very, very good basketball team," DWU head coach Aaron Kahl said. "They're not a one-person team by any means. They have a lot of good basketball players. They're well coached and they deserve a lot of credit."
Northwestern extended its perfect record to 11-0, 2-0 in the GPAC, while DWU fell to 5-6 overall and 2-2 in the GPAC after its second consecutive loss.
The Red Raiders jumped out to a 10-2 lead with less than four minutes gone from the game and never looked back.
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Northwestern shot 68 percent from the field, including 67 percent from three-point land, to secure a 56-40 lead heading into halftime.
The Tigers, on the other hand, shot just 47 percent from the field and just 36 percent from three-point range.
Remmerde, who leads the nation in scoring, paced the Red Raiders with 22 first-half points on 10-for-12 shooting. Teammate Amy Larson had also reached double digits by halftime with 11 points.
"They're all good shooters," DWU junior guard Sarah Mortenson said. "We just have to be ready to guard. Remmerde obviously was going to be a big player, but everyone else on their team can shoot to so we just have to be ready to play and play half-court defense."
Northwestern didn't relax in the second half, as it shot at a clip of 63 percent from field-goal range and buried four of its seven three-point attempts.
"I think we were just a step behind on switches," Mortenson said. "Once they started hitting threes it was kind of hard to scramble back."
The Tigers, on the other hand, shot just 38 percent from the floor and made only one of seven attempted three pointers.
"We scored 71 points tonight," Kahl said. "I thought we did some good things moving the basketball and I thought we played pretty well together, but we were too slow and we were letting them get too comfortable. We didn't do a good enough job of pressuring them and getting out on our switches."
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Remmerde scored 12 more points in the second half to put her at 34 points for the game. Larson finished with 19 points and Mandy Carr hit double figures with 10 points.
"(Remmerde) is a very, very good player," Kahl said. "She can get her own shot, but she plays so well within their team concept. She passes really well, she moves without the ball, she defends. She compliments what they do so well."
Crystal Algood grabbed eight boards and Miranda Boekhout had seven more for the Red Raiders.
Whitney Gard was the only player to hit double digits for the Tigers with her 10 points. Mortenson followed with nine points and Kaylea Karst and Ashley Johnson each added eight. Mortenson also snagged six rebounds.
DWU will try and stop its twogame skid against Concordia University Saturday in Seward, Neb. Tip off is set for 2 p.m. against the Bulldogs, who are 9-1 overall and 3-1 in the GPAC.
"I think we know what we need to work on," Mortenson said. "It's just a matter of keeping on working on that and doing what we did in the past to get some wins."
NORTHWESTERN COLLEGE 103
DAKOTA WESLEYAN 71
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Northwestern College (11-0, 2-0 GPAC)
Boekhout, Miranda 2-2 0-0 4; Algood, Crystal 4-7 0-0 8; Larson, Amy 6-13 2-2 19; Carr, Mandy 3-4 2-2 10; Remmerde, Debbie 15-18 0-0 34; Koele, Jenna 3-4 0-0 6; Hurley, Becca 3-4 2-2 9; Neth, Kristin 0-0 0-0 0; Achterhoff, Morgan 1-2 1-2 3; Wedel, Andrea 2-2 2-2 6; Gaudian, Danielle, 0-0 0-0 0; Hulstein, Randa 1-5 2-2 4. Totals 40-61 11-12 103.
Dakota Wesleyan (5-6, 2-2 GPAC)
Johnston, Nikki 1-2 0-0 3; Pazour, Adria 3-7 1-3 7; Johnson, Allison 2-8 2-4 6; Johnson, Ashley 3-6 2-3 8; Mortenson, Sarah 4-7 0-0 9; Lusk, Heidi 1-6 3-4 6; Gard, Whitney 4-8 0-0 10; Austin, Bri 0-0 0-0 0; Karst, Kaylea, 2-5 4-4 8; Peterson, Ellie 0-0 0-0 0; Krueger, Jennifer 1-1 0-0 2; Noteboom, Angela 2-3 0-0 4; Dvoracek, Kenzie 1-2 0-0 2; Hemmer, Abby 1-3 4-4 6. Totals 25-58 16-22 71.
Halftime score-NU 56, DWU 40. Three point goals-NU 19, DWU 5. Rebounds-NU 33, DWU 23. Assists-NU 28, DWU 14. Turnovers-NU 17, DWU 17. Steals-NU 12, DWU 11. Blocks-NU 5, DWU 0. Technical fouls-None.
