10th-ranked Northwestern lost to No.8 Dakota Wesleyan 73-58 in a GPAC semifinal played this afternoon at the Bultman Center. Northwestern, now 22-8 on the season, will have to wait until Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 6pm when the NAIA Selection show will announce the 32-qualifiers for the NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship tournament. 

Kassidy De Jong scored a game-high 23 points to lead the Red Raiders while teammate Renee Maneman scored 13 points, pulled down seven rebounds and dished out four assists. 

The teams traded leads over the opening minutes until, with Northwestern leading 12-9 after four straigh points by Anna Kiel, DWU scored the final eight points to take a 17-12 lead at the end of the first quarter. Both Rylie Osthus and Ashley Bray drained three-pointers during the final 1:22, giving the Tigers the lead for good. 

Northwestern made it a one-point game on two occasions early in the second, the final on a basket by Darbi Gustafson with 7:15 left in the half. A three-pointer by Jessica Mieras triggered an 11-2 DWU run to push the lead to 10, where it stayed at the half, 36-26. 

Ashley Bray scored a three-point play in the opening moments of the third quarter before Northwestern made a charge, outscoring the Tigers 9-2 midway in the quarter to make it a four-point game (43-39) after two free throws by De Jong. DWU responded, however, with the next seven points, and led by nine by the end of the third quarter, 54-45.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Kynedi Cheeseman and Amber Bray extended the Tigers lead to 15 in the beginning moments of the final quarter and Northwestern did not get any closer than 10 the rest of the way.

Northwestern shot 39% for the game, 15% (2/13) from the three-point line, and kept the game close by shooting 86% (18/21) from the free throw line. Both teams pulled down 31 rebounds, five on the offensive end, and the Red Raiders committed 12 turnovers compared to 10 by DWU. 

Four DWU players scored in double figures, led by Cheeseman with 19 points, going 5-for-10 from the three-point line. Amber Bray (16), Osthus (15) and Ashley Bray (10) were also in double figures. The Tigers improve to 27-5 and advance to play Concordia in Tuesday's GPAC Championship game.