As the fall sports season comes to a close NW students and athletes prepare for the start of the winter sports season. The men’s basketball season kicked off at the end of October with their first game happening on the 25th. The women’s team was shortly behind beginning on November 4th.
The men’s team began their season with an away game against the Friends University Falcons in Wichita Kansas. NW who was ranked No. 8, defeated the No. 24 ranked Falcons with a score of 95-87. NW started ahead and maintained their lead throughout the whole game, despite a strong comeback attempt from the Falcons in the second half. This game also represented a high point for two Raiders, Jesse Van Kalsbeek and Jalen Langsy, who put up career highs with 40 and 31 points respectively.
The men’s team has played three more games since their definitive win against the Falcons, playing Central College on the 28th, Clarke on the 31st and Saint Francis on November 1st. The team has kept up their momentum racking up three more wins in these games.
NW stayed ahead of Central from start to finish as they continued to expand the gap finishing with a commanding 34 point lead, and a final score of 99-65 in their first home game.
The game against Clarke, in Dubuque, was not so easy for NW, as they narrowly won in a 91-88 game. The teams stayed close the whole duration with the largest gap of the game being only 9 points. Clarke pulled ahead in the final quarter, but NW managed to gain back their lead by four points in the end.
NW’s fourth game, also in Dubuque, was a strong win in a high scoring game with a final score of 122-104. This represented the highest score NW has put up since 2019, as well as the first game in the program’s history to have to 40+ point scorers, Jesse Van Kalsbeek and Jalen Langsy. The Raiders maintained their lead against Saint Francis Cougars throughout the game shutting down a third quarter comeback attempt by the Cougars. The game ended with a final three pointer by freshman Blake Aalbers bringing NW’s lead to a final total of 18 points.
The men’s basketball team also gained a new head coach for the season Colton Kooima. Kooima expressed his hope for the team and their future this season saying “Our season has gotten off to a fun and exciting start. We have a group of guys that are extremely enjoyable to be around and work with every day. They want to be the best they can be. We are a relatively young team with a lot of guys stepping into new roles. While this is exciting, it also means there is a lot that needs to be learned and taught! We hope to continue improving as GPAC play approaches. We believe our group can still improve in a lot of areas!”
The women’s season began with an away game against the Viterbo V-hawks in La Crosse Wisconsin. NW took home their first victory of the season defeating the V-hawks 74-63. NW recovered from a weak first half with a dominant second half performance, especially in the fourth quarter.
Head Coach Chris Yaw gave his take on the first game of the season and the future of the team. He said “We have played a single game on the road vs Viterbo. It was good for us to get into a game and work through the different elements that come up. We did not play our best in the first half offensively. I was excited to see our ladies remain focused, together, and resilient to play more like ourselves in the second half and come away with a win on the road. We have a team with some limited experience and they have been extremely eager to learn and grow together. We look forward to the challenges and opportunities of the season; each of these will keep us improving!”.
Looking ahead the men’s team will begin playing GPAC teams later this month. In their next game they play the Viterbo V-Hawks at home on Saturday November 8th, hoping to continue their 8 game long winning streak against the team. The team will have one more game against William Penn on November 11 before getting into a string of GPAC matchups starting on November 15.
The women’s team will be squaring up against John Brown University and Grandview on Novembder 7 and 8, respectively, in two home games during the Pizza Ranch Classic. The team is looking to secure their first win against Grandview since 2017. Following the Pizza Ranch Classic, the women’s team will play three GPAC games against Doane, Dordt and Concordia, the same schools the men’s team will be facing in their GPAC matchups.
