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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The No. 6 ranked Lady Panthers put away the No. 9 Concordia Cardinals after just 20 minutes of play as they led by 31 at halftime to pick up their fourth straight Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament championship on Monday night. The win lifts Davenport to 30-2 on the year as they will head into the NAIA National Tournament from March 6-12 on a seven game winning streak. It marks the fifth straight season DU has won at least 30 games and the Panthers will find out who they play when the national office releases the bracket Wednesday night at 8:00pm EST.

Four Davenport starters finished in double-figures and Tiesha Stokes came off the bench to pitch in 13 points and a Student Center record 14 rebounds for a DU player to help the Lady Panthers earn the series win over Concordia and claim another tourney championship. Kayla Gross had 15, Kendra Cook (14), and Karli Harris and Emily Nielsen had 11 each as Davenport now sets their sights on Sioux City, Iowa for the national tournament in which 32 teams from around the country will play for the title at the Tyson Events Center.

In a much anticipated matchup between two of the Top-10 teams in the country, Davenport grabbed a 5-4 lead on one of nine first half 3-pointers and they never let off the gas for the remainder of the opening twenty minutes taking a 51-20 lead into the locker room. That three by Kayla Gross was one of four triples from the senior in the first half as Emily Nielsen and Alex Law each knocked down a pair while Kia Frazier hit one leading to the insurmountable lead for DU.

Concordia, which had dealt Davenport one of just two losses this season back on January 9, came out with some grit in the second half and outscored the Lady Panthers 14-4 in the first 4:39 to get within 21 but they could never get the lead  under 20 for the remainder of the game. 12 different DU players posted at least one point as the DU bench picked up 34 points on the night.

Other stat leaders for Davenport included six assists from Karli Harris and a pair of steals from Stokes and Nielsen. CUAA senior Kelly Cieslak finished with a game high 18 points while playing 39 of the 40 minutes and she was helped by 16 from WHAC Player of the Year A. Hengesbach and 11 from Mara Mulroy. Concordia gains the second automatic berth to the NAIA National Tournament as the tournament runner-up and they will be making their third straight appearance in Sioux City.

Post-Game Notes

Davenport has now won 5 of the 8 WHAC Tournaments they have been in (2005-06, 2009-10 through 2012-13) and appeared in six of the game title games…Tiesha Stokes had the most rebounds inside the Student Center for a Davenport player (14) while the overall record is 17 from Northwestern (Iowa) Kendra DeJong…DU has never lost to Concordia at home as they are now 14-0 all-time
 
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