The Jimmie women pushed their early-season winning streak to four games on Saturday at the Jamestown Civic Center.
A day after turning away No. 2-ranked Northwestern (Iowa) at home the Jimmies earned the weekend sweep with a 65-52 victory over Dordt College.
Jimmies senior guard Amanda Rantapaa and junior guard Kellie Schuneman were each a catalyst in a pair of momentum-changing scoring runs, with Rantapaa striking first in the opening half.
Rantapaa's second of three three-pointers in the half capped a 14-0 scoring run by Jamestown College that put the Jimmies up 25-12. Before the run, Jamestown found itself trailing 12-11 to a Defenders team that took down Valley City State 51-50 the night before.
"It seems like Day 2 games are always these types of games. You're a little more tired and have to grind games out and find ways to win," Jimmie coach Mark Wiest said. "You're not always going to put 80 points on the board and win by 20. (Dordt's) a good team and they've won a lot of games."
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The Defenders were able to chip away at the Jimmies' 13-point lead by the end of the half, relying largely on junior guard Amber Soodsma. Soodsma knocked down a pair of bonus shots, stole a pass and scored and then finished the first-half scoring with back-to-back three-pointers.
The Jimmies only led 31-26 at the half. Soodsma scored 13 of her game-high 21 points in the opening 20 minutes, while Rantapaa wrapped up the half with nine of her team-leading 12 points.
"Our biggest key was that we wanted the pace to be fast. Dordt is a more methodical team and likes to slow things down," Wiest said. "In the last part of the first half they were able to do that.
"At halftime our biggest adjustment was to get the pace of the game back in our favor."
The pace of the game changed in the Jimmies' favor for good with 11:29 to play. Following a trey by Dordt's Julia De Koekkoek that cut JC's lead to 41-38, Schuneman answered back and drilled a trey of her own.
Schuneman then followed that up by converting a three-point play off of a Dordt turnover putting the Jimmies ahead by nine at 47-38. Jamestown College would go on to lead by as many as 16 points (61-44) en route to the 65-52 victory.
"We had two nice runs in both halves and that was really the difference in the game," Wiest said. "We needed a spark and Kellie was the one who started that spark for us.
"We had our share of turnovers, but (Dordt) was struggling. The way we were pushing the ball wore them out a little bit."
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Schuneman and Giuli Varriano each ended the night with nine points for the Jimmies, while Cori Doubek and Katie O'Neill each chipped in with 10 points in a very balanced Jimmie scoring attack.
The Jimmies only visited the free throw line 10 times in the game, but converted eight of those shots. The two teams combined for 41 turnovers.
"We weren't quite as quick with our decision-making and that contributed to the 19 turnovers, which is a lot for us," Wiest said. "We'd also like to get to the free throw line a little bit more, but they were good at not fouling our shooters when we got to the basket."
Jamestown College's season continues today with an exhibition game against North Dakota State in Fargo. The Jimmies then travel to Dakota Wesleyan and Mount Marty on Friday and Saturday.
"It was a good weekend for us. Anytime you can go 2-0 is a good sign," Wiest said. "We were able to beat two good teams and hopefully that will give us some momentum next week as we head to Mitchell and Yankton."
Jamestown College 65
Dordt (Iowa) 52
Dordt College 26 26 -- 52
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Jamestown College 31 34 -- 65
DORDT COLLEGE (52): Briana De Vries 0-0 0-0 0, Amber Soodsma 7-17 2-4 21, Julia De Koekkoek 3-8 4-4 11, Bre Schneidermann 2-10 2-2 6, McKinzie Schmidt 1-7 0-0 2, Lesley Eldridge 1-2 0-0 3, Brittany Kooiker 0-0 0-0 0, Kelly Schouten 1-2 0-0 2, Brianna Spronk 2-6 0-0 5, Bailey Spencer 1-2 0-1 2, Melani Van Wingerden 0-1 0-0 0.
Totals: 18-55 FG, 8-11 FT, 12 fouls, 32 rebounds (Soodsma 7, Schneidermann 7), 22 turnovers, 9 assists (De Koekkoek 2, Schouten 2), 8 steals (Schouten 2, Spronk 2), 5 blocked shots (Schneidermann 4). Three-pointers: 8-18 (Soodsma 5-7, De Koekkoek 1-4, Schmidt 0-2, Eldridge 1-2, Spronk 1-3).
JAMESTOWN COLLEGE (65): Giuli Varriano 4-7 0-0 9, Cori Doubeck 4-7 2-3 10, Katie O'Neill 3-11 2-2 10, Kellie Schuneman 3-6 2-3 9, Amanda Rantapaa 4-9 0-0 12, Krista Shaikowski 2-6 2-2 7, Justene Engels 0-0 0-0 0, Nicole Ahlers 0-2 0-0 0, Jackie Hust 0-1 0-0 0, Amber Ramlo 1-1 0-0 2, Allison Epping 3-3 0-0 6, Bridget Schuneman 0-0 0-0 0.
Totals: 24-53 FG, 8-10 FT, 16 fouls, 36 rebounds (Varriano 8), 19 turnovers, 19 assists (K. Schuneman 6), 12 steals (O'Neill 3), 1 block (Varriano). Three-pointers: 9-25 (Varriano 1-3, O'Neill 2-5, K. Schuneman 1-2, Rantapaa 4-9, Shaikowski 1-4, Ahlers 0-2).
Records: Jamestown College 4-0, Dordt 1-1.
Sun sport writer Michael Savaloja can be reached at (701) 952-8461 or by email at mikes@jamestownsun.com
