The Doane Tigers were declawed during Wednesday night's game. The Bronco women had a continuous 20+ point lead through the entirety of the game.
When the clock hit zero, the Broncos won 79-40. Seniors Lindsay Ducey, Alicia Statler, Rachel Isherwood, Heather McKeon and Kim Faimon racked the points during the first half. The seniors scored over 75 percent of the first half baskets.
Sophomore Becky Tesch scored eight points in the first half as well. The second half had more scores by underclassmen, particularly sophomore Sophia McDermott with eight. McDermott's record was previously 6 points in the 2008 game versus South Dakota School of Mines and Tech. Freshmen Stacey Havekost, Brittney Wong and Quincy King also contributed.
"We were pretty comfortable," Tesch said of the game, "I was, at first, just a little bit worried because they were off to such a slow start, but then when it just kind of kept going, I was like, we're just going to put them away."
The Broncos have used the second half in previous games to strike back at opponents, like the game versus Morningside on Feb. 6. Doane initially looked like they might use that technique.
When the score didn't differ from halftime, with Broncos 44-17, it was clear the Tigers were not prepared to confront Hastings.
"We juggled on offensive rebounds a lot in the beginning, but they were shooting a very low percent so there's going to be a lot of offensive rebounds for them," Tesch said.
The Bronco offensive took advantage of the game to give underclassmen an opportunity to take it to the basket.
The game against Northwestern will be less comfortable for the Broncos. Northwestern is ranked second in the GPAC.
"It's good that we have a really hard game coming up this weekend so that we can keep working really hard," Ducey said.
The Northwestern game is one of three remaining conference games. The GPAC tournament will follow, but the goal for the Broncos is the NAIA finals in Sioux City, Iowa.
"I think everyone is getting really excited. Once we get finished with these last couple of conference games, it should be fine. We're all kind of getting a different mentality&we all want to win," Ducey said.
