SIOUX CENTER, IA – University of Jamestown Women’s Basketball dealt with possibly the best team in NAIA Wednesday, and the home team stifled the Jimmies. Jamestown’s men forged a 21-point first-half lead, then had to survive a comeback.
Dordt defeated Jamestown Wednesday in women’s basketball 73-55 and the Jimmie men held off the Defenders 85-81 at DeWitt Gymnasium.
Women: Dordt 73, Jamestown 55
Dordt, number one in the NAIA Women’s Basketball Coaches Poll, clinched a second-straight GPAC regular season championship while never surrendering the lead and winning for the 12th straight time.
Through the first half, UJ remained close, down just one early in the second quarter before the Defenders expanded the lead to 11 with just under five minutes remaining. Jamestown cut the deficit to six at halftime, 31-25.
But a dominant third quarter by Dordt (24-1, 19-0 GPAC) did the Jimmies in. Macy Sievers scored 10 of her game-high 20 points in that quarter for the Defenders, who were 9-of-13 from the floor while Jamestown was only 3-of-12. Dordt led through three quarters 54-35 and cruised to the win.
Sievers also had seven rebounds and six assists. Karly Gustafson scored 13 with eight rebounds. Janie Schoonhoven had 12 points, eight rebounds and four steals.
Audrey Rodakowski led Jamestown (15-10, 11-8) with 12 points, all in the second half. Kia Tower was limited to one field goal, but hit all nine of her free throws and scored 11 to become the second leading scorer in program history. Tower’s 1,715 career points trail only Keri Bakker (1,801). Samantha Paulsen scored 10 points off the bench in only 18 minutes.
Men: Jamestown 85, Dordt 81
A sizzling start by the Jimmies led to a 21-point first half lead, before Dordt rallied to tie the game four times in the second half.
Jamestown led 32-11 with 10:26 remaining in the half before settling for a 52-41 halftime advantage.
A Colby Vazquez three-pointer with 13:39 left had the Jimmie lead at 70-54. Then, Jamestown didn’t score for 7:03 as Dordt scored 16 straight points to tie the game. The last of the four ties was at 77-77 before Christian Lietz hit his third three-pointer of the game to grab the lead for Jamestown (14-11, 9-8) for good at 80-77.
Luke Rankin hit a jumper for Dordt (17-8, 10-7) with 2:22 left to make the UJ lead 80-79, but Will Cordes hit a three for his only points of the game 27 seconds later for an 83-79 Jamestown lead. After a Dordt miss, a Silas Bennion layup with 1:14 left made it 85-79 for the Jimmies.
Ben Fairclough hit two free throws for Dordt, but then he and Lucas Lorenzen missed three-pointers in the last minute and Jamestown held on.
Bennion had one of his best all-around games as a Jimmie, scoring 23 points with seven rebounds, six assists and five steals. Lietz and Vazquez each had 13 points and three three-pointers. Cole Woodford scored 10. Jimmy Llinas, back after missing a game with an injured right ankle, scored eight points with nine rebounds.
Fairclough and Connor Millikan scored 19 points each for Dordt. Bryce Coppock had 14. Lorenzen scored 10 with nine rebounds.
UJ will host Mount Marty on Saturday at Harold Newman Arena. Coverage will begin at 1:30 PM. It is scheduled for The Voice of the Jimmies, Jamestown 107.1. However, if Jamestown Blue Jay boys hockey plays in the second state qualifying game or in the championship game of the WDA Tournament, then the Jimmies would be on Q101.