Broman Scores Career-High in Loss
Heather Broman (SR/Geneva, Neb.) scored a career-high on Saturday but the women's basketball team was unable to overcome the hot shooting of No. 2 Morningside as they fell 89-76. Morningside shot 50-percent for the game but used the 1st and 3rd quarters to build their lead.
The Mustangs made 11-of-18 shots (61-percent) in the opening quarters of each half. They out-scored the Tigers 30-18 in the 1st and 31-18 in the 3rd quarter. Doane countered by out-scoring Morningside in the 2nd and 4th quarters. The Tigers trailed 41-34 at the half.
Shelbi Bittinger (SR/Milford, Neb.) paced the Tigers in the opening half with 10 points while Broman added nine and Hanah Barnard (JR/Beatrice, Neb.) collected seven points.
Turnovers were costly for the Tigers in the 3rd quarter as Morningside out-scored Doane 12-0 on points off of turnovers. The Mustangs led by 20 points at the quarter break.
Doane began to rally as they scored seven straight to open the 4th quarter. Broman made a pair of lay-ups and Bittinger added a 3-point basket. Morningside countered and pushed their lead back to 20 points with 2:53 to play following a pair of free throws.
Doane had one last push, again starting with Broman. She made an old-fashion three point play with two minutes left. McKenna Dodd (SO/Lincoln, Neb.) made a 3-point basket followed by two free throws by Broman. Barnard added a basket with 56 seconds left as Doane cut the lead down to 10 points. Morningside made 3-of-4 free throws in the closing minute to hold off any late heroics the Tigers were hoping for.
Broman finished with 31 points, six points off the school record mark set in 1977-78. Her point total was the most for the Tigers since November 2009 when Vanessa Munter reached 31 points against College of Saint Mary. In the second half alone, she posted 22 points on 8-of-8 shooting and 6-of-7 from the free throw line. Broman collected 10 rebounds, a game-high.
Dodd added 16 points off the bench, making five 3-point baskets. Bittinger notched 13 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals. Barnard had a game-high six assists, tying her career-high.
Morningside was led by Lexi Ackerman and Jessica Tietz with 17 points apiece.
Doane closes their home schedule on February 17 with a meeting against Nebraska Wesleyan before heading on the road for the regular season finale at Northwestern.