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Bartel And Gass Receive MVP Honors
Mustangs Set Nine School Records In Championship Season
Mustangs Are National Champions!
Gass And Bartel Are First-Team All-Americans
Mustangs Top Northwestern In Semifinals
Seven Mustangs Named NAIA Scholar-Athletes
Mustangs Topple Black Hills State To Reach Final Four
Mustangs Move On To Elite Eight With Win Against Bethel
Mustangs Roll Past Maine-Fort Kent In First Round
Gass And Bartel Make All-GPAC First-Team
Mustangs Top Northwestern In GPAC Title Game
Williamson Earns Weekly GPAC Honor
Nelson Is GPAC Player Of The Week
Mustangs No. 1 In NAIA Pre-Season Poll
Mustangs Picked To Win GPAC Title
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Autumn Bartel |
Dani Gass |
Autumn Bartel and Dani Gass were named Morningside College’s Co-Most Valuable Players when the Mustangs held their women’s basketball awards banquet on Saturday at the Marina Inn in South Sioux City, Neb.
Bartel, a 5-9 senior guard from Cherokee, Iowa, also received the Mustangs’ Defensive Most Valuable Player Award, while Gass, a 5-10 senior guard from Sioux City, also received the Mustangs’ Offensive Most Valuable Player Award. Both players were first-team NAIA Division II All-Americans this past season. Gass was also this year’s NAIA Division II National Player of the Year, while Bartel was named the MVP of the 2009 NAIA Division II National Tournament.
Their exploits helped the Mustangs post a 38-0 record during the 2008-09 season and become only the second team in history to win the NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball National Championship with an undefeated record after a 68-63 win against Hastings College in the championship game.
Bartel was the Mustangs’ leading scorer with a career-high average of 15.2 points per game to compliment a norm of 3.4 rebounds per game. She led the team in both 3-point and free throw shooting accuracy with 61 3-point field goals in 159 attempts for 38.4 percent and 107 free throws in 134 attempts for 79.9 percent. Bartel led the Mustangs’ starters in overall field goal accuracy with 204 hoops in 427 attempts for 47.8 percent. She ranked second on the team with 160 assists and 112 steals for averages of 4.2 assists and 2.9 steals per game.
Bartel finished her career as the Mustangs’ fifth leading all-time scorer with 1,731 career points.
Gass averaged 11.6 points per game and was the Mustangs’ leading rebounder with an average of 7.6 caroms per game. She also led the team with 203 assists and 141 steals for norms of 5.3 assists and 3.7 steals per contest. Gass made 140 of 322 field goal attempts for 43.5 percent and 140 of 186 free throw attempts for 75.3 percent.
Gass finished her career as the fourth leading scorer and the second leading rebounder in Morningside history with 1,802 career points and 1,094 career rebounds to become only the second player in Morningside history to amass over 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds. She is Morningside’s all-time leader with 451 career steals.
Kayla Weerheim, a 5-7 senior guard from Hawarden, Iowa, received the Mustangs’ Best Sixth Man and Hustle Awards. Weerheim averaged a career-high 5.4 points per game off the Mustangs’ bench and was one of their best 3-point and free throw shooters with 29 3-point field goals in 83 attempts for 34.9 percent and 29 free throws in 38 attempts for 76.3 percent.
Mackenzi Mendlik, a 5-7 junior guard from Denison, Iowa, received the Most Improved Player Award. Mendlik averaged 1.4 points per game in 29 varsity contests and saw her playing time increase significantly over the later stages of the season.
Morningside has a 189-30 record for a .863 winning percentage since the start of the 2003-04 season. The Mustangs have won either a share of the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) regular season championship or won the title outright each of the past five seasons to reign in a league that has produced eight of the last nine NAIA Division II National Champions.
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Dani Gass |
Laura Nelson |
Morningside’s women’s basketball team broke eight school records and tied another school record during the 2008-09 season en route to a perfect 38-0 season and their third NAIA Division II National Championship of the decade.
The Mustangs’ 38 victories and their perfect winning percentage were the best single-season totals in school history, breaking the former Morningside single-season standards by the 2004-05 NAIA II National Championship team, which had a 35-3 record for a winning percentage of 92.1 percent.
Morningside will open the 2009-10 season riding a pair of school-record winning streaks. The Mustangs’ 38 consecutive victories this season topped the previous record of 27 consecutive wins from Nov. 17 to March 1 of last season. Morningside has won 22 consecutive games away from home to top its previous record of 17 straight wins from Nov. 20 to March 15 of last season. Morningside will also take a 55-game regular season winning streak into next season.
The Mustangs broke a single-game record for field goal accuracy in a 99-44 victory against Nebraska Wesleyan University on Jan. 3 when they made 34 of 53 field goal attempts for 64.2 percent to break their previous single-game standard of 62.7 percent against Dakota Wesleyan University on Jan. 8, 2005.
Dani Gass, a 5-10 senior guard from Sioux City, became Morningside’s all-time career leader with 716 free throw attempts and 451 steals to break the former Mustang standards of 676 career free throw attempts by Brittany Carper, who played from 2001-05, and 366 career steals by Jill Pudenz, who played from 2002-06.
Laura Nelson, a 5-10 junior guard from Jefferson, Iowa, made a school-record 10 3-point field goals in the Mustangs’ 94-71 victory against Dakota State University on Dec. 30 to break the former Morningside record of nine 3-pointers in a game by Kate Lokken against the University of Minnesota-Morris during the 2002-03 season.
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Autumn Bartel |
Autumn Bartel, a 5-9 senior guard from Cherokee, Iowa, made all eight of her field goal attempts in a 75-59 win against Hastings College on Jan. 17 to tie the Mustangs’ single-game record for field goal shooting accuracy. Bartel tied a record first set by Vicki Rahbusch, who went eight-for-eight against Northwestern College during the 1988-89 campaign.
Gass led the Mustangs with 287 rebounds, 203 assists, and 141 steals for averages of 7.6 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 3.7 steals per game. Gass dealt 12 assists in wins against Northwestern on Nov. 11 and Hastings on Jan. 17 to finish just one shy of the Mustangs’ single-game record. She also made a team-high 140 free throws in 186 attempts for an accuracy rate of 75.3 percent.
Gass, the 2009 NAIA Division II National Player of the Year and a three-time first-team NAIA II All-American, finished her career as the fourth leading scorer and the second leading rebounder in Morningside history with 1,802 career points and 1,094 career rebounds to become only the second player in Morningside history to amass over 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.
Bartel was the Mustangs’ leading scorer with 576 points to average a career-high 15.2 points per game. Bartel led the Mustangs in both 3-point and free throw shooting accuracy with 61 3-point field goals in 159 attempts for 38.4 percent and 107 free throws in 134 attempts for 79.9 percent. She made a team-high 204 field goals in 427 attempts to lead the Mustangs’ starters with an accuracy mark of 47.8 percent.
Bartel, the 2009 NAIA Division II National Tournament Most Valuable Player and a first-team NAIA II All-American, finished her career as the Mustangs’ fifth leading all-time scorer with 1,731 career points. She grabbed 476 rebounds for the 19th highest career total in school history.
Nelson led the Mustangs with 125 3-point field goals to come within five treys of Lokken’s Morningside single-season record of 130 3-pointers in 2003-04. Nelson had the Mustangs’ top single-game scoring performance of the season with 30 points in the Dec. 30 win against Dakota State. She climbed into 35th place on Morningside’s all-time scoring list with 703 career points.
Brittany Williamson, a 6-0 junior forward from Ruthven, Iowa, led the Mustangs with 30 blocked shots for an average of 0.8 rejections per game. Williamson is the 19th leading scorer and 24th leading rebounder in Morningside history with 974 career points and 409 career rebounds, respectively.
Roni Miller, a 5-11 junior forward from Lawton, Iowa, led the Mustangs in field goal accuracy with 89 hoops in 168 attempts for 53.0 percent. Miller ranks 48th on Morningside’s all-time scoring list with 491 career points.
Leslie Foral, a 5-10 junior guard from Chadron, Neb., had the Mustangs’ top single-game rebounding performance of the season with a 13-board haul in the team’s 71-57 victory against Bethel College on March 13 in the second round of the NAIA II National Tournament. Foral will enter her senior campaign as the 39th leading scorer in Morningside history with 669 career points.
Kayla Weerheim, a 5-7 senior guard from Hawarden, Iowa, averaged a career-high 5.4 points per game off the Mustangs’ bench this season to climb into 50th place on Morningside’s all-time scoring list with 465 career points.
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Dani Gass |
Roni Miller |
Morningside put the finishing touches on a storybook season when the Mustangs won the NAIA Division II National Championship with a 68-63 victory against GPAC rival Hastings College in Tuesday’s NAIA II title game in Sioux City’s Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena in a marquee matchup that pitted two teams that had combined to win five of the previous seven NAIA II national titles.
Morningside, which also won national titles in 2004 and 2005, finished the campaign with a 38-0 record and joined Indiana Wesleyan in 2007 as the only teams in history to win the NAIA II crown with an undefeated record.
Eighteenth-ranked Hastings was a surprise finalist after a fifth place GPAC finish during the regular season. The Broncos upset second-ranked Shawnee State in the second round and No. 3 College of the Ozarks in the semifinals. For awhile, it looked like they might add top-ranked Morningside to their list of upset victims when Hastings took a 50-44 lead midway through the second half before the Mustangs rallied to keep their undefeated season intact.
Dani Gass, named to the all-tournament team, fueled the Mustangs’ triumph with game-high totals of 24 points and 12 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the season. The 12 rebounds matched her season’s high.
Leslie Foral gave the Mustangs one of her top offensive performances of the season with 14 points and Roni Miller provided 11 points off the bench. Brittany Williamson just missed double figures with eight points.
Autumn Bartel, named the national tournament MVP, dealt a game-high five assists and had four steals to share Mustang honors with Foral.
The 12 rebounds by Gass and a career-high seven rebounds by Laura Nelson led the Mustangs to a 36-30 advantage on the boards. Nelson also had seven rebounds in the Mustangs’ semifinal round victory against Northwestern College.
Lindsay Ducey had a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds for Hastings and was joined in double figures by Kay Broekemeier with 14 points, Kim Faimon with 12, and Heather McKeon with 10.
Hastings took an early 5-4 lead after a 3-pointer by Broekemeier and a basket by Rachel Isherwood, but Morningside answered with a 13-point run, capped by back-to-back 3-pointers by Gass from the top of the key, to go up 17-5 with 13:30 left in the half. Foral was also instrumental in the early Mustang spurt when she drove into the lane for one score and also drilled a jumper from the baseline.
Faimon rallied the Broncos with a conventional 3-point play along with a 3-point bomb and then Becky Tesch drilled a 3-pointer of her own to pull Hastings within 23-17 with 10:10 left in the half. The Broncos kept charging by working the ball inside to Ducey for her first two baskets of the game, followed by a Broekmeier 3-pointer to close within 25-24 with 5:50 left.
Foral quieted the Broncos’ rally with a 3-pointer to start a stretch where the Mustangs outscored their opponent 14-6 over the final 5:26 of the half to take a 39-30 lead into the intermission.
Ducey scored the Broncos’ first eight points of the second half to lead Hastings on a 20-5 spurt to start the second half. The Broncos opened up a 50-44 lead for their largest advantage of the game when Faimon made two free throws with 12:17 remaining. Led by Gass and Miller, the Mustangs didn’t buckle and went on an 18-4 run to surge in front 62-54 with 3:51 left. Gass and Miller each scored seven points during the pivotal run.
Hastings rallied within 64-61 with 1:03 left on a 3-pointer by McKeon, but the Mustangs held on with some clutch free throw shooting down the stretch by Foral and Miller to wrap up their third national championship of the decade.
Box Score
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Danii Gass |
Autumn Bartel |
Dani Gass, a 5-10 senior guard from Sioux City, has been named the NAIA Division II National Player of the Year to headline the 2009 NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball All-America Team released Tuesday.
Gass was named to the NAIA II All-America first-team for the third year in a row.
In addition to Gass, the Mustangs’ Autumn Bartel, a 5-8 senior guard from Cherokee, Iowa, was also named to the NAIA II All-America first-team.
Morningside’s Jamie Sale was named the NAIA National Coach of the Year.
Sale guided Morningside to a 38-0 record and a NAIA Division II National Championship after the Mustangs defeated Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) rival Hastings College 68-63 in Tuesday’s NAIA II Championship Game. The Mustangs became only the second team in history to win the NAIA II national title with an undefeated record.
Gass, a four-time first-team All-GPAC performer and the 2009 GPAC Player of the Year, averaged 11.6 points and a team-high 7.6 rebounds per game this season. She led the Mustangs with 203 assists and 141 steals for averages of 5.3 assists and 3.7 steals per game. Gass made 140 of 322 field goal attempts for 43.5 percent and converted 140 of 186 free throw attempts for 75.3k percent. She had a team-high 10 double-doubles and was the Mustangs’ leading rebounder in 21 of their 38 games, including 12-board hauls in games against Wayland Baptist University, Doane College, and against Hastings in the National Championship Game for the Mustangs’ top single-game rebounding total of the season.
Gass finished her career as the fourth leading scorer and the second leading rebounder in Morningside history with 1,802 career points and 1,094 career rebounds and is only the second women’s basketball player in Morningside history to amass over 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds. She is Morningside’s all-time leader with 451 career steals and ranks second in the Mustangs’ record book with 686 career assists.
Bartel, the 2009 GPAC Defensive Player of the Year, was the Mustangs’ leading scorer with an average of 15.2 points per game and was the Mustangs’ leading scorer in 20 of their 38 contests. Aside from her scoring exploits, Bartel averaged 3.4 rebounds per game and finished second on the team with 160 assists and 112 steals for averages of 4.2 assists and 2.9 steals per contest. Bartel led the Mustangs’ starters in field goal accuracy with 204 field goals in 427 attempts for 47.8 percent. She was the team leader in 3-point field goal accuracy with 61 treys in 159 attempts for 38.4 percent and also topped the team in free throw percentage with 107 free throws in 134 attempts for 79.9 percent.
Bartel finished her career as the fifth leading scorer in Morningside history with 1,731 career points. She is the 19th leading rebounder in Morningside history with 476 career rebounds.
Click here for the complete 2009 NAIA Division II Women's Basketball All-America Team.
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Autumn Bartel |
Brittany Williamson |
No. 1-ranked Morningside will try to put the finishing touches on a dream season when the Mustangs play for the NAIA Division II National Championship on Tuesday night in Sioux City’s Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena.
The Mustangs, who have been ranked No. 1 for the entire season, punched their title game ticket with a 63-58 victory over GPAC rival Northwestern College, the defending NAIA II National Champions, in Monday’s semifinals. Morningside, which will take a perfect 37-0 record into the National Championship Game, will face another GPAC rival for the title in 18th-ranked Hastings College, which upset No. 3 College of the Ozarks 75-60 in the other semifinal.
Tuesday’s two finalists have already combined to win five NAIA II National Championships this decade. Morningside won back-to-back titles in 2004 and 2005, while the Broncos were NAIA II champs in 2002, 2003, and 2006. Morningside defeated Hastings 75-59 when they met during the regular season on Jan. 17 in Sioux City. Ironically, the Broncos had played a non-conference game against College of the Ozarks in their previous game before their regular season contest against Morningside.
Autumn Bartel led the Mustangs with 18 points in their win against No. 6 Northwestern in the NAIA semifinals. It was her 28th consecutive double figure scoring performance. Laura Nelson and Brittany Williamson each chipped in with 11 points and Roni Miller just missed double figures with nine tallies.
Becca Hurley, the GPAC’s regular season scoring champion, led the Red Raiders with 19 points and Randa Hulstein, the GPAC’s rebounding champion, added 13 points to go along with a NAIA Division II National Tournament record 26 rebounds.
Hulstein’s rebound haul led the Red Raiders to a 53-45 advantage on the boards. Williamson paced the Mustangs with a season’s high 11 rebounds.
Bartel led all performers with five assists and eight steals.
Both teams struggled with their shooting. Northwestern connected on just 32.3 percent of its field goal attempts and the Mustangs weren’t much better at 33.8 percent.
Northwestern struck first when it worked the ball inside to Hulstein for the game’s first basket, but the Mustangs answered with a seven-point run that featured baskets by Nelson and Bartel and a 3-pointer by Williamson to take a 7-2 lead with 17:30 left in the half.
The Red Raiders closed within 10-8 on a basket by Hurley with 15:09 left before Morningside reeled off 13 unanswered points, the final six on 3-pointers by reserves Mackenzi Mendlik and Miller, to open a 13-point lead, 23-10, midway through the half.
Northwestern refused to go away, however, and reeled off eight unanswered points to ignite an 18-4 run that saw the Red Raiders take the lead at 28-27 when Hurley bombed in a 3-pointer with 2:34 left in the half. Morningside regained the lead by the intermission on a steal and layup by Bartel with 45 seconds left to take a 29-28 lead into the break.
Northwestern took a 31-29 lead with 18:40 left in the game when Hurley was left alone from 3-point range. The Mustangs responded with a 19-2 run and appeared to be on the verge of turning the game into a runaway when a basket by Miller put Morningside up by 15 points, 48-33, with 12:30 left in the game.
The Red Raiders came back again and went on a 9-0 run to close within 48-42 on a basket by Kami Kuhlmann with 10:42 left to play.
The Mustangs eventually built their lead back to 11 points on two occasions, the last time at 59-48 after a pair of free throws by Bartel with 4:05 left. The closest the Red Raiders came after that was four points, 62-58, after Kuhlmann made the front end of a two-shot foul with 10.9 seconds left.
Box Score
 Seven members of Morningside College’s No. 1-ranked women’s basketball team have been named 2009 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes.
The Mustangs’ Daktronics-NAIA Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athletes are:
Cara Anderson, a 6-2 junior forward from Fort Calhoun, Neb. Anderson has a 3.78 cumulative grade point average (GPA) with majors in graphic design and advertising.
Autumn Bartel, a 5-9 senior guard from Cherokee, Iowa. Bartel has a 3.81 cumulative GPA with a major in biology.
Emily Christen, a 6-1 junior forward from Anselmo, Neb. Christen has a 3.59 cumulative GPA with a major in mathematics teaching.
Sarah Culp, a 5-7 junior guard from Newell, Iowa. Culp has a 4.00 cumulative GPA with a major in business administration.
Mackenzi Mendlik, a 5-7 junior guard from Denison, Iowa. Mendlik has a 3.50 cumulative GPA with a major in biology.
Roni Miller, a 5-11 junior forward from Lawton, Iowa. Miller has a 3.76 cumulative GPA with a major in biology.
Brittany Williamson, a 6-0 junior forward from Ruthven, Iowa. Williamson has a 3.73 cumulative GPA with majors in chemistry and biology.
Student-athletes must be of at least junior academic status and have a minimum GPA of 3.50 in order to be eligible for Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete honors.
Morningside has a 37-0 record this season and is ranked No. 1 in the nation in the NAIA Division II ranks. The Mustangs will face Hastings College in the NAIA II National Championship Game on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Sioux City’s Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena.
Click here for the complete list of Daktronics-NAIA Women's Basketball Scholar-Athletes.
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Dani Gass |
Laura Nelson |
Morningside’s No. 1-ranked and undefeated women’s basketball team steamrolled into the Final Four of the NAIA Division II National Tournament with a convincing 72-56 victory against 11th-ranked Black Hills State University in Saturday’s quarterfinals in Sioux City’s Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena.
The Mustangs, who posted their school-record 36th victory of the season, will take their perfect record into a 6 p.m. Monday semifinal against No. 6 Northwestern College. Third-ranked College of the Ozarks and No. 18 Hastings College will square off in the other semifinal in a Final Four that features three teams from the GPAC and the same two semifinal round matchups as a year ago.
Dani Gass and Laura Nelson each scored 18 points to share game scoring honors. Both scored 14 of their points in the first half when the Mustangs built a 39-20 lead at the break. Nelson did most of her scoring from long range with five 3-point field goals in 11 attempts.
Autumn Bartel and Brittany Williamson joined them in double figures with 14 and 13 points, respectively, as Bartel extended her streak to 27 consecutive double figure scoring performances.
Gass, the GPAC Player of the Year, had game-high totals of eight rebounds, six assists, and six steals to compliment her scoring line. Williamson matched her on the boards with eight rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a 39-34 Yellow Jacket rebounding advantage.
Katelynn Lamb finished with 10 points to lead the Yellow Jackets, while Brittany Fuhrman, who joined Lamb on the All-Dakota Athletic Conference first-team, was limited to six points and was scoreless in the second half.
Black Hills State had gone 5-1 against the GPAC during the regular season, losing only to Mount Marty, but proved no match for the Mustangs. Morningside never trailed and took the lead for good when Gass scored off an offensive rebound to put the Mustangs ahead 7-5 with 15:41 left in the opening half.
Black Hills State trailed only 17-14 midway through the half before the Mustangs reeled off 14 unanswered points to go up 31-14 to break the game open. After Danielle Bauer made a basket to end the Black Hills State drought, Nelson put the Yellow Jackets away with an eight-point flurry that featured two 3-pointers in a 27-second stretch that increased the Mustangs’ margin to 39-18.
Morningside led 39-20 at the intermission after an opening 20 minutes where the Yellow Jackets turned the ball over 17 times and shot just 31.8 percent from the field and their leading scorer, Lamb, was held to two points on one-for-seven shooting.
Black Hills State’s shooters warmed up in the second half, but still finished at just 38.6 percent for the night to go along with 26 turnovers.
Monday’s Morningside/Northwestern semifinal will be the fourth time the teams have clashed this season. The Mustangs won all three previous meetings, including a 64-56 win in the GPAC Post-Season Tournament championship game on March 3.
Box Score
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Leslie Foral |
Dani Gass |
It’s on to the Elite Eight for No. 1-ranked Morningside after it led for almost the entire game in a 71-57 triumph against No. 16 Bethel College in Friday’s second round action of the NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball Tournament in Sioux City’s Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena.
The Mustangs, who tied a school record with their 35th victory of the season, will take a perfect 35-0 record into a quarterfinal round game against No. 11 Black Hills State University on Saturday at 8 p.m.
Bethel, which had its national tournament run end with a loss against a team from the GPAC for the fourth time in the last five years, had bowed out in the quarterfinals each of the past four seasons.
Morningside, despite shooting a woeful 31.3 percent from the field, trailed only once against the Mid-Central Conference champions in moving on. The Lady Pilot’s only lead came when Heather Seyfred opened the game’s scoring with a 3-pointer.
The Mustangs compensated for their cold shooting performance by turning the ball over only nine times compared to 23 miscues by their opponent and by outrebounding the Lady Pilots by a 50-41 margin. The Mustangs held Mid-Central Conference Player of the Year Amber Peters, who entered the game as the fourth leading rebounder in the nation with an average of 11.8 caroms per game, to only five rebounds.
Laura Nelson scored 15 points to lead a group of four Mustangs in double figures. Autumn Bartel was next with 13 points for her 26th consecutive double figure scoring performance, followed by Brittany Williamson with 12 tallies and Dani Gass with 10 points. Gass, the GPAC Player of the Year, also had 10 rebounds to register her ninth double-double of the season.
The Mustangs’ leading rebounder, though, was junior guard Leslie Foral, who collected a career-high 13 rebounds to shatter her previous best of 10 caroms against Mount Marty College during the GPAC Post-Season Tournament.
Bekah Basinger led Bethel with 19 points, while Seyfred, a transfer from NCAA Division I Indiana State University who was Michigan’s Class C scoring leader as a prep senior at Bridgman High School, was next with 17 tallies. Mandy Yoder, a transfer from NCAA Division II Ferris State University, added 16 points and Kelsy McKee had a team-high 10 rebounds.
Peters, a transfer from NCAA II Grand Valley State University, was limited to four points, but did lead all performers with five assists.
After Seyfred’s 3-pointer gave the Lady Pilots a 3-0 lead, the Mustangs answered with a 10-point run that featured 3-pointers by Nelson and Bartel to go up 10-3. Bethel rallied within 10-8 after a 3-pointer and a layup by Yoder, but by the 10:30 mark the Mustangs had increased their lead to 10 points, 18-8, on a baseline jumper by Katie Sponder.
The Mustangs built their advantage to 18 points by the intermission on a four-point play with 37.1 seconds left when Gass made a layup while shaken up on an intentional foul by Yoder that forced her to leave the game. Kayla Weerheim entered the game to shoot the free throws for Gass and converted both to make the score 36-18 going into the break.
Morningside eventually increased its lead to 27 points, 57-30, in the second half before the Lady Pilots went on a 21-5 run to close within 62-51 on a 3-pointer by Seyfred with 5:11 left.
Drives to the basket by Gass and Foral, followed by a steal and layup by Bartel, squashed the Bethel rally and built the Mustangs’ lead back up to 68-53.
Box Score
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Autumn Bartel |
Erica Luetje |
Morningside advanced to the second round of the NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball National Tournament with an 83-41 victory over the University of Maine-Fort Kent on Wednesday night in Sioux City’s Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena.
The No. 1-ranked Mustangs improved their record to 34-0 and will face Bethel College of Indiana in a second round contest on Friday at 5:15 p.m. The 16th-ranked Lady Pilots will take a 23-8 record into the contest after they advanced with a 67-63 opening round win against No. 17 Cedarville University.
Maine-Fort Kent, the champions of the Sunrise Conference, bowed out with a 24-5 record and had a school-record 20-game winning streak snapped. The Mustangs’ 83 points were the most the Lady Bengals allowed in a game this season. Maine-Fort Kent had held 19 of its previous 28 opponents to scoring totals of 50 points or less while compiling a defensive scoring average of 46.0 points per game.
Autumn Bartel scored a game-high 19 points for the Mustangs to extend her streak to 25 consecutive games in double figures. Bartel drilled eight of nine floor shots, including three of four attempts from beyond the 3-point arc. Eric Luetje came off the bench to score a career-high 10 points to join Bartel in double figures. Luetje topped her previous high of seven points, which came in the season opener against Mayville State University in the same arena during the Tyson Classic. Mackenzi Mendlik was next with nine points to match her career high.
Dani Gass and Emily Christen each had seven rebounds to lead the Mustangs to a 47-43 advantage against a Lady Bengal team that was leading the nation in team rebounding margin. The seven rebounds by Christen was a career high.
Gass, the GPAC Player of the Year, led all performers with four steals and dealt four assists to share game honors with teammate Kayla Weerheim.
Kristen Violette led the Lady Bengals with 15 points for her 23rd consecutive double figure scoring performance and Ashley Ames, the Sunrise Conference Player of the Year, added 10 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.
The Lady Bengals, who suffered a 110-37 opening round loss against College of the Ozarks in last year’s tournament, stayed with the Mustangs for almost five minutes before Morningside went ahead to stay at 7-4 when a Bartel 3-pointer at the 15:05 mark broke a 4-4 tie.
The Mustangs pushed their lead into double figures for the first time when a Weerheim 3-pointer with 14:00 left completed a 10-0 Morningside run to make it 14-4. Morningside increased its lead to 20 points, 31-11, on a steal and layup by Bartel with 6:32 left in the half.
Morningside led 39-17 at the intermission after it shot just 33.3 percent from the field against a Lady Bengal team that entered the contest as the national leader in team field goal percentage defense at 30.3 percent.
The Mustangs started the second half with a 19-2 run to increase their advantage to 58-19 and never looked back.
Box Score
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Dani Gass |
Autumn Bartel |
Morningside’s Dani Gass, a 5-10 senior guard from Sioux City, and Autumn Bartel, a 5-8 senior guard from Cherokee, Iowa, were each named to the 2008-09 All-Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Women’s Basketball First-Team as selected by the league’s head coaches.
Gass was also named the Hauff Mid-America Sports/GPAC Player of the Year and Bartel was named the GPAC Defensive Player of the Year. In addition, the Mustangs’ Jamie Sale was named the Hauff Mid-America Sports/GPAC Coach of the Year for the second year in a row after he led the Mustangs to their fifth consecutive GPAC regular season championship and their first ever undefeated regular season. Morningside, which also won the GPAC Post-Season Tournament championship with a 64-56 victory against Northwestern College in Tuesday’s title game, will take a 33-0 record and a No. 1 national ranking into the upcoming NAIA Division II National Tournament slated for March 11-17 at Sioux City’s Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena.
Gass was named to the All-GPAC first-team for the fourth year in a row. She is averaging 11.5 points per game and is the Mustangs’ leading rebounder with an average of 7.4 caroms per game. Gass grabbed 12 rebounds in games against Wayland Baptist University and Doane College for the Mustangs’ top individual rebound total of the season. She also tops the team with 184 assists and 126 steals for norms of 5.6 assists and 3.8 steals per game. Gass has made 119 of 268 field goal attempts for 44.4 percent and 124 of 167 free throw attempts for 74.3 percent. She is the fourth leading scorer and the second leading rebounder in Morningside history with 1,741 career points and 1,051 career rebounds and is only the second women’s basketball player in Morningside history to amass over 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.
Bartel is the Mustangs’ leading scorer with an average of 15.3 points per game to compliment an average of 3.4 rebounds per game. She has 142 assists and 93 steals for averages of 4.3 assists and 2.8 steals per game. Bartel is the Mustangs’ best free throw shooter with 98 free throws in 122 attempts for 80.3 percent. She has made 178 of 373 field goal attempts for 47.7 percent and 52 of 140 3-point field goal attempts for 37.1 percent. Bartel has scored in double figures in 24 consecutive games. She is the fifth leading scorer in Morningside history with 1,661 career points.
In addition to their two first-team selections, the Mustangs placed Laura Nelson and Brittany Williamson on the All-GPAC Second-Team.
Nelson, a 5-10 junior guard from Jefferson, Iowa, is averaging 11.9 points and 2.4 rebounds per game and is one of the nation’s most prolific 3-point shooters with 111 treys in 287 attempts for 38.7 percent. She made a school-record 10 3-pointers and scored 30 points for the Mustangs’ top individual scoring performance of the campaign in a 94-71 victory against Dakota State University on Dec. 30. She has made 134 of 334 field goal attempts for 40.1 percent and 14 of 15 free throw attempts for 93.3 percent.
Williamson, a 6-0 junior forward from Ruthven, Iowa, is the Mustangs’ second leading scorer and rebounder with averages of 12.5 points and 4.6 rebounds per game and the team leader with 27 blocked shots. Williamson has made 164 of 345 field goal attempts for 47.5 percent and 61 of 81 free throw attempts for 75.3 percent.
Morningside’s Leslie Foral, a 5-10 junior guard from Chadron, Neb., was named to the All-GPAC honorable mention list. Foral is averaging 7.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game and has 70 assists and 94 steals for averages of 2.1 assists and 2.8 steals per game.
Click here for the complete 2008-09 All-GPAC Women's Basketball Team.
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Autumn Bartel |
Kayla Weerheim |
Morningside College’s No. 1-ranked women’s basketball team added the GPAC Post-Season Tournament championship to its regular season GPAC title when the Mustangs defeated No. 6 Northwestern College 64-56 in the Rosen Verdoorn Sports Center on GPAC Championship Tuesday presented by Rawlings.
Autumn Bartel scored a game-high 17 points for the unbeaten Mustangs, who climbed to 33-0 on the season. She was joined in double figures by Brittany Williamson with 11 points and Dani Gass with 10. Leslie Foral and Laura Nelson just missed double figures with eight points each.
The Mustangs never trailed in a contest where the score was tied only three times. The Mustangs took the lead for good at 14-11 on a 3-pointer by Gass with 13:28 left in the first half. The Mustangs eventually pushed their first half cushion to 16 points, 38-22, for their largest lead of the game on a jump shot by Bartel with 5:20 left before taking a 43-31 lead into the intermission.
Morningside maintained a double figure lead for much of the second half despite a chilly 25.0 percent shooting performance during the final 20 minutes.
Randa Hulstein went for a double-double with game-high totals of 17 points and 17 rebounds and led the Red Raiders in rebounding for the 16th game in a row. However, the Mustangs shut down Northwestern’s most reliable scorer by holding GPAC scoring champ Becca Hurley to nine points, including only three tallies in the second half. Hurley, who was held to a single digit scoring total for only the third time this season, had scored 20 points or more in nine of the Red Raiders’ previous 10 contests.
Hulstein’s 17 caroms paced the Red Raiders to a 40-33 advantage on the boards.
Kayla Weerheim came off the bench to lead the Mustangs with a career-high seven rebounds. The Mustangs also received a big performance off the bench from Mackenzi Mendlik, who contributed season’s highs of five points and three steals. Gass had three steals to share game honors with Mendlik and also had five assists to share game honors with the Red Raiders’ Hurley.
Both teams will advance to the NAIA Division II National Tournament to be held March 11-17 in Sioux City’s Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena.
National tournament pairings will be announced on Thursday.
Box Score
 Brittany Williamson, a 6-0 junior forward from Ruthven, Iowa, has been named the Hauff Mid-America Sports/Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Women’s Basketball Player of the Week.
Williamson was the leading scorer in both of Morningside’s two victories last week as the No. 1-ranked Mustangs improved their record to 23-0. She averaged 19.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game and made 17 of 28 field goal attempts for 60.7 percent in the two triumphs. Williamson had 16 points and five rebounds in a 76-69 win against Dordt College on Jan. 21 and had 22 points and five rebounds in an 84-65 victory against 10th-ranked Concordia University.
Williamson has scored in double figures in each of the Mustangs’ last seven games and is averaging a career-high 12.9 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.
 Laura Nelson, a 5-10 junior guard from Jefferson, Iowa, has been named the Hauff Mid-America Sports/Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Women’s Basketball Player of the Week after she led the Mustangs to three victories last week.
Nelson averaged 20.0 points per game in Morningside victories against Iowa Wesleyan College, Dakota State University, and Nebraska Wesleyan University to help the No. 1-ranked Mustangs climb to 17-0 to match their best start in school history. She made 20 of 39 3-point field goal attempts for 51.3 percent in the three triumphs.
Nelson’s best game came in a 94-71 win against Dakota State when she scored a career-high 30 points and made 10 3-point field goals to break the former Morningside record of nine 3-pointers in a game set by Kate Lokken against the University of Minnesota-Morris during the 2002-03 season.
Nelson is averaging 12.0 points per game and is the NAIA national leader with 62 3-point field goals. She ranks third nationally with an average of 3.65 3-point field goals per game.
 Morningside College will go into the 2008-09 women’s basketball season as the top ranked team in the nation after the Mustangs were ranked No. 1 in the NAIA Division II pre-season poll released Monday by the NAIA.
The Mustangs, who received 11 of the 12 first place votes, return four starters from a team that finished 33-4 and reached the semifinals of last year’s NAIA Division II National Tournament. Morningside is the defending Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) champion after it won last year’s title with an 18-0 record to become only the second team in history to win the league crown with a perfect record.
College of the Ozarks received the other first place vote.
Five of the top 14 ranked teams in the NAIA II pre-season poll will compete this weekend when Morningside hosts the Tyson Classic on Friday and Saturday in Sioux City’s Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena. The other ranked teams in the field are No. 2 Hastings College, No. 9 Jamestown College, No. 13 Minot State University, and No. 14 Northwestern College.
Click here for the complete NAIA II pre-season poll.
 Morningside has been tabbed the favorite to capture the 2008-09 GPAC regular season championship in the GPAC Coaches' Pre-Season Poll.
The Mustangs return four starters from a team that finished 33-4 last season and won the GPAC with an 18-0 league record to become only the second team in conference history to run the table.
Morningside has won at least a share of four consecutive GPAC regular season championships.
Poll Results
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