In a battle of ranked foes, the Morningside Mustangs topped Northwestern 83-75 at the Bultman Center on Wednesday night.
Morningside’s Lauren Lehmkuhl led the game in scoring with 23 points. The Raiders were led by freshman Anna Kiel’s 20 points. Sophomore Kassidy De Jong recorded a double-double for NW, pouring in 13 points and snatching 12 rebounds.
The Mustangs jumped out to an early 11-5 lead, but the Raiders used a quick 12-3 run aided by three Morningside turnovers to take the lead. The Mustangs retook the lead briefly before NW ended the first quarter on a 7-0 run, finishing the quarter leading 25-19.
Morningside opened the second quarter with 11 straight points before junior Paige Danner buried a three to pull the Raiders back within two. The rest of the second quarter was back-and-forth with the Mustangs leading most of the way.
Danner hit another three with one minute to go before half to put the Raiders up one, and junior Renee Maneman added a jumper and the Raiders led by three with 20 seconds to go. Morningside’s Lehmkuhl leveled the score 40-40 going into halftime as she drilled a triple of her own at the buzzer.
The Mustangs again had another fast start to a quarter as they scored the first eight points of the third. NW was outscored 24-13 in the third quarter, tying their largest lead of the game heading into the fourth quarter at 64-53.
The Raiders were able to cut the lead to single digits twice early in the fourth, but the Mustangs hit timely shots to keep their lead. Morningside led by as many as 16 with four minutes left in the game. NW eventually cut the lead to six with 20 seconds remaining but were unable to extend the game. The win avenges NW’s 98-97 win against Morningside in Sioux City earlier this season.
Sophomore Darbi Gustafson grabbed 10 rebounds for NW while sophomore Haley Birks rejected five Mustang shot attempts. NAIA-assist leader Maneman recorded seven assists on the evening.
NW falls to 16-8 (8-8 in the GPAC) with the loss. The Raiders will travel to Doane University on Feb. 4 for a 2 p.m. tip with the Tigers. NW returns home Feb. 8 when they host Mount Marty.
