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2007-2008 Season Wrap-up
As the 2007-08 season started, it looked promising for the young Nebraska Wesleyan Women’s team. They brought back eight letterwinners from the 2006-07 season, and added six new faces to the team. Even with this experience, third-year Head Coach Amy Sander new this season was going to be a tough one.
The women’s schedule was packed with tough games that proved to be difficult challenges for them to overcome. The GPAC Conference was the main reason for the tough schedule this season. For most of the season, there were four teams that were ranked in the top 10 in the NAIA II poll (Hastings, Northwestern, Concordia and Morningside). In total, NWU played six games against ranked opponents this season.
Even though NWU had this daunting schedule ahead of them, they started the year on fire. On Nov. 16, NWU opened the season with a win against Martin Luther College, but it was what they accomplished during this game that caused quite a stir. The women beat Martin Luther 101-57, making this the first time they scored over 100 points in a game since the 1990-91 season. During the ’90-91 season, the NWU women’s team set an NCAA Division III record for consecutive games over 100 points (4) during a season.
After this amazing victory, NWU struggled to find its way into the win column, until the Christmas holidays came. On Dec. 15, the start of Christmas break, NWU played physical basketball, which produced a victory against Central College, winning by the score of 79-64. Their Christmas success continued during their holiday tournament, when they traveled to Tacoma, Washington on Dec. 28. In first round action, NWU beat Lewis & Clark College 67-65 in overtime. Ashley Bordovsky hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer in overtime to seal the victory for NWU.
NWU also found some late-season success, which has been one of their trends over the past three years. The NWU women entered the AD3I West Region tournament on Feb. 29 filled with confidence, as they took down the University of Dallas for a 67-55 victory in the first round. In the championship game, NWU faced Division III rival Chapman. Chapman used a 23-0 run in the first half to pull out the win 62-45. With this game, the NWU women ended the season with an overall record of 6-21 (2-16 GPAC).
Sadie Struebing was one of the shining stars for NWU this season, playing like a seasoned veteran in her first year of action. Struebing, a native of Brainard, Neb., received All-GPAC honorable mention and AD3I Second-Team honors for the season. She led the team in scoring (11.6 ppg) and rebounding (7.9) and ended the year as the top scoring and rebounding freshman in the GPAC. She was also 10th in the AD3I in rebounding and seventh in the league with a .496 field goal percentage. The East Butler High School graduate recorded seven double-doubles on the year to rank second in the GPAC in double-doubles.
With the start of a career came an end to one, as senior Devan Aschtgen ended her career for NWU. Aschtgen averaged 9.1 points and 4.9 rebounds for her 2007-08 campaign, which earned her All-GPAC honorable mention for the year. This was the third straight season the Platteview High School graduate received All-GPAC recognition. She was named All-GPAC honorable mention as a junior and was an All-GPAC Second-Team pick as a sophomore in 2005-06. Aschtgen, a native of Springfield, Neb., finished her career with 841 points. She also recorded 138 career steals to rank 10th all-time at NWU.
