By OAKLEE FIELDER
The Lady Rangers made the long trudge through the GAC Tournament to win the first NCAA Division II championship for NWOSU, all under head coach Tasha Diesselhorst.
Diesselhorst has been Northwestern’s Women’s basketball team’s head coach for the last decade.
Throughout her coaching career, she has over 100 wins and has made the GAC Tournament multiple times, but finally, she has led the Lady Rangers to the title, which was the end goal from the beginning.
“It was a goal of ours at the beginning of the year to be playing on Sunday,” Diesselhorst said.
“Something that we’ve been working toward in previous years, and it’s just really cool that this group can get it done.”
The Lady Rangers will be competing in the DII Women’s Basketball Central Region tournament held in the Taylor Center in Mankato, Minnesota.
Their first opponent will be Concordia University, St. Paul from Saint Paul Minnesota.
Concordia looks to be a tough opponent, as they are currently on a 16-game winning streak.
“They’re playing really well; they won their tournament,” Diesselhorst said. “Watching film, it’s a good matchup for us. We’ve been in Minnesota and played some other Minnesota teams, not Concordia in particular, but I think we’re familiar with how those teams like to play.”
The Lady Rangers aren’t looking for any change in their game. They expect to go north and play the same game they’ve been playing.
Their presence in the paint and their defense is what Diesselhorst says is their biggest strength.
“When you have the player of the year in the conference, we obviously do a lot of stuff around Kira Bass,” Diesselhorst said. “She draws a lot of attention, which opens up stuff for our other players as well, and then we rely on our defense. Our defense is kind of our identity of who we are. We hang our hat on being able to hold teams to season lows, and so that’s something we’ve got to do this weekend, is play really good defense.”
Diesselhorst says the reason why Bass is so great, is her consistency.
Bass shows up in every game and posts consistent numbers time and time again. She has an incredibly high free throw percentage and has a high rebound number. Diesselhorst says Bass has improved her game all around from last year.
Bass is not the only player to watch on Friday. The Lady Rangers’ roster is jampacked with great players.
“Each one of them had their moments in every game,” Diesselhorst said. “I can go back to a point in one of those games where somebody stepped up and gave us something, so I think if they’re all ready to do their job, then we could make a run.”
The Lady Rangers face Concordia on Friday at 2:30 in Mankato, Minnesota.