
Women's Basketball Uses Aggressive Defense to Top Sterling
Women's Basketball hosted Sterling on Tuesday evening in Crete, their first meeting since 2015. The Tigers were able to win each quarter as they pulled away for a 92-73 victory over the Warriors to improve to 2-0 on the year.
Sterling and Doane exchanged baskets early on with the Warriors holding a two point lead on three occasions and the Tigers tying the game twice. Macy Holtz hit a 3-point basket to give the Tigers their first lead, 7-6, with 7:52 to go in the opening quarter. Doane would lead by as many as three points over the next three minutes with Sterling tying the game twice. A pair of fastbreak baskets for Doane would give the Tigers a lead they would not relinquish.
Doane led 21-17 after the first quarter and 44-33 at the halftime break. The Tigers pushed their lead to 71-56 after three quarters and the two teams matched the first quarter point totals (21-17) for the final outcome. The largest lead of the game was 21 points following a Grace Thompson 3-point basket with 31 seconds to play in the game.
For the game, the Tigers shot 51.6-percent from the floor (33-of-64) including 69-percent in the opening quarter. Doane shot 26-percent behind the arc (5-of-19) and 70-percent at the free throw line (21-of-30). Sterling shot 44-percent for the game (27-of-62), 20-percent behind the arc (3-of-15), and 76-percent at the free throw line (16-of-21).
Mak Hatcliff led all players with 28 points and 11 rebounds in the game while adding three assists. Macy Holtz and Kaylee Klover finished with 16 points apiece. Holtz led the team with four assists while Klover added seven rebounds. Megan Chambers posted 14 points and picked up two blocked shots. Maddie Portwine finished with 13 points and tied Holtz for the team lead in steals with three. Doane out-scored Sterling in points off turnovers, 23-2.
Sterling received 21 points from Korynn Clason and 16 points from Alissa Heskamp. McKenna Vogl added 15 points and six rebounds.
The Tigers will be back at home on Saturday, November 16, when they host Dakota Wesleyan at 2 PM in the GPAC opener. It is a Green Out day as the women's program is promoting liver awareness in honor of Hoops for Halstyn, recognizing the battle that Coach Ryan Baumgartner's daughter has gone through the last few months.