The men’s and women’s basketball teams began their postseason push in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) tournament quarterfinals on Feb. 28 in the Bultman Center, with both teams against the Dakota Wesleyan University Tigers.
The evening started with the fourth seeded Raider women taking on the fifth seeded Tigers. Dakota Wesleyan set the tone early, starting the game with a 9-0 run. The Raiders clawed their way back in the game, cutting the Tiger lead to two with about three minutes remaining in the second period thanks to Molly Schany and Hali Anderson.
“Molly and Hali were both great play makers for us the entire game,” head coach Kristern Rotert said, “Molly was dominant inside, and Hali did a great job creating scoring opportunities for herself off the dribble.”
However, Dakota Wesleyan pulled away from the Raiders to end the half. At the break, the Tigers led 42-35. It was an even matchup for most of the second half with back and forth battles to the end. In the end, Dakota Wesleyan eliminated the Raiders from the GPAC tournament with an 80-68 win.
In the men’s game, the number one seed Raiders jumped out to a big lead on the eighth seeded Tigers early, and NW led by as many as 14 in the first 20 minutes. Fans also witnessed a major career milestone when Alex Van Kalsbeek eclipsed 2,000 career points after a free throw with 5:21 remaining in the first half.
“Alex has worked hard to be the player he is. He has worked incredibly hard after injury, and it is sweet to see him play so well,” head coach Kris Korver said.
At halftime, the Raiders led 39-27. NW continued a steady offensive output and stingy defense in the second half.
“We just tried to take away some of the easy things that they are looking for and make each shot a tough contested shot,” Korver said.” Overall, our guys did that in this one.”
The Raiders only outscored the Tigers by one point in the second half, but it was more than enough to come away with a 78-65 victory.
Unfortunately, the Raiders fell in the semifinals against Morningside on March 2. Despite the losses, each team earned a trip to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA)National Tournament on March 15.
