Northwestern College came up just short in its upset bid against second-ranked and unbeaten Concordia, falling to the Bulldogs 84-80 in a GPAC match-up played tonight at the Bultman Center. The loss snaps the Red Raiders three-game win streak drops them to 5-2 in the GPAC, 8-5 overall. 

Anna Kiel led the Red Raiders with 19 points and six rebounds before fouling out with under three minutes to play. Kassidy De Jong scored 17 and pulled down seven rebounds and Breana Schuiteman added a career-best 16 points, going 4-for-6 from the three-point line. 

Leading by six (62-56) at the end of the third quarter, Northwestern extended its advantage to nine (69-60) following a basket by Darbi Gustafson with six minutes left to play. Concordia, however, stormed back with a 13-2 run to take its first lead, 73-71, on a free throw by Philomena Lammers at the two-minute mark. The second of two made free throws by Gustafson tied the game at 73 moments later but the Bulldogs went ahead for good on their next possession on a jumper by Dani Hoppes with 1:06 left. 

Northwestern would cut the lead down to one three times over the final 60 seconds but the second-ranked Bulldogs went 6-for-6 from the free throw line down the stretch to get the win.

The Red Raiders shot better than 50% in every quarter and ended 56% for the game, 43% (6/14) from the three-point line. Northwestern had the upper hand in rebounding, 39-30, led by both De Jong and Gustafson with seven. Gustafson scored 10 points and Renee Maneman matched her career high with 12 assists. 

Quinn Wragge led all scorers with 20 points and was one of four Concordia players in double figures. Lammers added 17 points to go with nine rebounds and Taylor Cockeril and Hoppes scored 12 and 10 points, respectively. Concordia shot 40% for the game, 30% (8/27) from the three-point arc but forced 24 NW turnovers. 

Northwestern raced out to a 7-2 lead and led at the end of every break. Leading 24-18 at the end of the first quarter, the Red Raiders built up their advantage to as much as 12 (42-30) on a pair of free throws by Kiel with 3:11 left in the first half. Three-pointers by Cockerill and Hoppes cut the NW lead to eight by the end of the half, 46-38. 

Concordia came all the way back to tie it (46-46) early in the third but Northwestern came back with an 11-2 run, finished off by consecutive three-pointers by Schuiteman to push her team's lead back to nine, 57-48. The Bulldogs made it a three-point game by quarters end.