The Northwestern women’s basketball team defeated Dordt 73-58 on Wednesday, Feb. 18. With the victory, NW improved to 11-8 in the GPAC and 17-10 overall. In addition, the Raiders clinched a No. 5 seed for the upcoming GPAC tournament starting Feb. 25.
Although the Raiders trailed early (11-5), they dominated the first half with separate runs of 12-1 and 14-0 to go into halftime with a 41-23 lead. Both runs were kick started by junior guard Katy Kuiper who hit a jumper and back-to-back three-point shots to ignite both scoring runs for NW.
In the second half, the Raiders extended their lead to as much as 20 points until Dordt answered with a 9-0 run to bring the score to 62-52. NW stood firm and went on a final run that outscored Dordt 11-6 to put the Defenders away for good. NW held Dordt to just one field goal over the final four-plus minutes.
“We were communicating on defense throughout the game,” said freshman guard Claudia Larsen. “And it really carried through all the way to the end.”
Senior guard Karen Ettleman led the Raiders in scoring with 19 points, which moved her up to eighth all time with 1,711 total points. Kuiper scored 14 points. Senior guard Paige O’Neal recorded 11 points and Larsen scored 10 points. Freshman guard Renee Maneman grabbed a career- high 11 rebounds. Her efforts contributed to NW outrebounding Dordt 51-42.
While the Raiders shot only 32 percent from the field, they managed to shoot 27-of-33 (82 percent) from the free-throw line.
The Raiders return to action for their final regular season game on Saturday, Feb 21 to face Hastings in Hastings, Neb. Tipoff is at 2 p.m.
“We are playing really well right now and are looking forward to the opportunity to compete again on Saturday,” Larsen said.
