Women's Basketball Monday, February 20, 2023 NWC Athletic Communications

Northwestern to Battle DWU in GPAC Quarterfinals

The Raiders look to pick up first win over Dakota Wesleyan this season

ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The (RV) Northwestern College women's basketball team (19-9, 14-8 GPAC) enters the 2023 Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) tournament as the No. 5-seed and will travel back to Mitchell, S.D. to battle the No. 4-seed Dakota Wesleyan Tigers inside the Corn Palace Tuesday evening.

Note: With the threat of weather looming, information regarding the game may change. Stay tuned to nwcraiders.com for any weather announcements regarding the contest.

GAME INFORMATION
(RV) Northwestern (19-9, 14-8 GPAC) vs. Dakota Wesleyan (21-7, 15-7 GPAC)
Date: Tuesday, February 21 // Time: 6:00 p.m.
Location: Mitchell, S.D. (The Corn Palace)
Watch: dwuathletics.com // Listen: None

THE SHOOTAROUND

NAIA TOP-25: field goal percentage (14^th), free throw percentage (16th), Assists/Game (19^th), and rebounding margin (24^th).
A win over DWU would give NWC their second-straight 20+ win season under Kristin Rotert.
Emilee Danner retook the team lead with her fifth double-double at Hastings, Schany is close behind with her four. Maddie Jones became the third Raider to record one this season in the win against Mount Marty.
The Raiders have held 14 opponents this season to under 40% shooting from the floor, improving to 14-0 in those games.
Northwestern has shot 50% or better from the floor in SIX games this season.
Maddie Jones had a game-high 13 points in the effort against Hastings to conclude the regular season.
Northwestern sits second in the GPAC in field goal percentage (44.9), blocks per game (2.9), and rebounding margin (7.5).
Three Raiders sit averaging double figures still this season entering the 2023 calendar year: Molly Schany (14.2), Maddie Jones (14.0), and Emilee Danner (10.3).

THE 2023 GPAC TOURNAMENT

The Regular season champions, the Defenders of Dordt University, will be the No. 1-seed in the conference tournament.
Dordt, Briar Cliff, Jamestown, and Dakota Wesleyan earned the right to host this year, as the 1-4 seeds, respectively.
The Quarterfinals will be featured in three different GPAC stats (Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota) with all games now being played on Tuesday evening.
Below you can see the 2023 GPAC Women's Basketball Tournament bracket:

wbb-gpac-tournament-bracket-quarterfinals-2023

RED RAIDERS IN THE GPAC TOURNAMENT

Northwestern has won the conference tournament five times in program history, the most recently being in 2014 (2013-14 season) under former head coach Chris Yaw.
A season ago, the Red Raiders defeated Briar Cliff inside the Bultman Center, before falling to Morningside in the semifinals.

ROTERT IN THE LEAGUE TOURNAMENT

Head coach Kristin Rotert has led the Red Raiders to the GPAC tournament for the second-straight season, doing so both seasons as head coach.
Under her leadership, the Raiders are 1-1 in the league tournament.
NWC is 0-1 under Rotert in conference tournament games on the road, after falling to Morningside last season in the semifinals (73-72).
It marks the first time the Raiders and Tigers have met in the GPAC tournament in Rotert's tenure.
Rotert defeated Briar Cliff last season in the Quarterfinals in Orange City.

IN GOOD COMPANY

236 NAIA schools sponsor women's basketball…NWC sits top-45 in four different statistical categories.
The Raiders are top-25 in field goal percentage (14^th) and free throw percentage (16th), and rebounding margin (24^th).

MAKING THE FREE THROWS COUNT

Two Red Raiders are shooting 80+% from the free throw line this season (min. 25 att.).
NWC sits 16th in the NAIA in free throw percentage (74.8%) which sits third in the GPAC.
Maddie Jones leads the way at 84.3% (118-140) and she has attempted the most on the team, eclipsing the 100-attempt mark in the game against Concordia (Neb.) on Jan. 21.
Jones eclipsed the 100 made free throws mark in the win over the College of Saint Mary on Feb. 1.
Jones sits with the second most attempts in the GPAC, behind Doane's Hatcliff (237) and she sits third in the league in FT% (min. 50 attempts) – behind Doane's Rylie Rice (86.9) and Briar Cliff's Konnor Sudmann (86.2).

TOP-LEVEL TEAM DEFENSE

NWC holds opponents to a mere 38.8% field goal percentage and 60.8 points per game, which sits fifth and fourth in the GPAC, respectively.
14 times this season, NWC has held opponents to sub-40% shooting from the floor and are a perfect 14-0 in those games.

RECORD BREAKERS!

Northwestern could not miss in the first road win over Morningside since 2018, shooting a new single-game program record of 72.2% from the floor (39-for-54).
NWC separated themselves from the Mustangs in the third quarter, shooting a phenomenal 14-for-15 (93.3%).
It breaks the previous record of 67.7% (42-of-62) set against Missouri Baptist in the 2011-12 season. NWC won 103-60 on December 29, 2011.

SERIES HISTORY – DAKOTA WESLEYAN

NWC and DWU meet for the 63^rd time in series history on Tuesday night in the Quarterfinals of the GPAC tournament.
Dakota Wesleyan swept the season series against the Red Raiders, prevailing 55-41 in Mitchell when the two teams met on February 8.
In the GPAC tournament, the two teams have only met twice before (since 2006-07), as DWU holds the 2-0 lead in conference tournament meetings.
The last NWC win came back on January 13, 2021 in Orange City, when the Raiders prevailed 66-46.
Rotert is looking for her first win against the Tigers (0-4) as the head coach of Northwestern.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS

Dakota Wesleyan enters the GPAC tournament with a 21-7 (15-7 GPAC) record and is the No. 4-seed.
DWU enters the tournament as winners of five-straight, including two wins over teams receiving votes in the latest NAIA Coaches' Poll.
The Tigers are led by senior forward Jada Campbell who averages 15.0ppg, which sits sixth in the GPAC this season.
In the rebounding category, two Tigers snag 6.0 boards per game in Campbell and Morgan Edelman.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets for the contest can be purchased in advance (at the link above) and at the Corn Palace at the gate.
Ticket prices: $10 for adults and $3 for students (K-College).
GPAC students with valid student ID get in the contest free.
No institutional season passes are allowed, only NAIA issued passes are allowed.

Up Next: Depending on the result of the game, with a win the Raiders would play the winner of (No. 1) Dordt and (No. 8) Doane on Saturday. With a loss, Northwestern will await their fate for the 2023 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national tournament selection show on Thursday, March 2 at 6:00 p.m. on the NAIA YouTube channel.

Don't forget to follow Northwestern College Athletics on Facebook @nwcraiders, Twitter @nwcraiders, and Instagram @nwcraiders! #RaidersStandOut

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Players Mentioned

#12 Emilee Danner: G; 5' 10"; Senior

#4 Maddie Jones: G; 5' 5"; Senior

#34 Molly Schany: F; 6' 1"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#12 Emilee Danner
: 5' 10"; Senior
: G

#4 Maddie Jones
: 5' 5"; Senior
: G

#34 Molly Schany
: 6' 1"; Junior
: F

Players Mentioned

#12 Emilee Danner

#4 Maddie Jones

#34 Molly Schany

Players Mentioned

#12 Emilee Danner

#4 Maddie Jones

#34 Molly Schany