Seventh-ranked Morningside defeated No. 6 Concordia 86-77 in Saturday’s regular season finale in Sioux City to gain a share of the 2013-14 GPAC women’s basketball championship.

Seventh-ranked Morningside defeated No. 6 Concordia 86-77 in Saturday’s regular season finale in Sioux City to gain a share of the 2013-14 GPAC women’s basketball championship.

Morningside’s win against Concordia, along with an 83-67 victory by ninth-ranked Northwestern over No. 4 Hastings, created a four-way tie for the conference championship. All four teams finished with records of 16-4 in the GPAC.

The Mustangs, who won their seventh GPAC regular season title during the Jamie Sale era, finished the regular season riding a 10-game winning streak. They will take a 25-5 record into the upcoming GPAC Post-Season Tournament and will host Dakota Wesleyan in a quarterfinal round game on Wednesday, Feb. 26.

Morningside’s victory against Concordia in the regular season finale avenged a 90-82 overtime setback against the Bulldogs in this season’s GPAC opener on Nov. 16 in Seward, Neb.

Freshman point guard Lexi Ackerman paced the Mustangs with 22 points in Saturday’s rematch. She was joined in double figures by starters Leann Osten and Allison Bachman, who each scored 12 points, and Jessica Tietz, who contributed 11 tallies off the bench. Ashlynn Muhl and Mandy Osborne were next with eight points apiece.

Concordia had the game’s two leading scorers in Bailey Morris and Becky Mueller, who scored 25 and 23 points, respectively. Morris, who also led the Bulldogs with seven assists and three steals, was this week’s NAIA Division II National Player of the Week.

Muhl and Tietz each grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Mustangs to a 38-31 advantage on the boards.

The senior Osten, who was playing in her final regular season home game, led all performers with eight assists and six steals. Her 12 points raised her career tally to 984 points, leaving her 16 shy of becoming the 23rd women’s basketball player in Morningside history to achieve the 1000-point plateau.

The first half was a game of spurts. Morningside raced to an early 19-5 lead, only to watch Concordia go on a 22-7 run of its own to take its only lead of the game at 27-26 with 6:05 left in the first half. Morningside outscored the Bulldogs 22-9 over the duration of the half to take a 48-36 lead into the intermission.

The Mustangs led by as many as 15 points, 70-55, with 9:26 left to play before Concordia reached its high water mark of the second half when it closed within 81-77 with 2:01 left in the game.

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