The Briar Cliff women's basketball team advanced to the GPAC Postseason Tournament Championship Saturday evening with a 66-57 win over Concordia. The Chargers used a nearly perfect first quarter to build an early advantage and held off a late Bulldog effort in the Newman Flanagan Center.
 
The Chargers started quick, scoring the game's first seven points in two minutes of action. After back-to-back BC buckets, Kennedy Benne forced an early Concordia timeout with a corner 3-pointer. The Bulldogs first points came at the 5:13 mark with a trey, but the Charger defensive pressure continued as they allowed just five points in the first 10 minutes.
 
Benne fueled the Chargers in the first quarter, posting seven points on 3-of-4 shooting with two steals, a rebound and one assist. The Chargers shot 50.0% from the field, while holding Concordia to 1-for-14 and forcing six turnovers.
 
Concordia attempted to chip away at the Charger lead in the second quarter, but the Blue and Gold held onto a double-digit lead at half. Briar Cliff shot 28.6% from the field in the period but made the most of their opportunities at the free throw line going 7-for-9. The Bulldog offense began to warm up, scoring 19 points to BC's 17, and shot 46.7% from the field. Benne continued to make plays on both sides of the ball, bringing her point total up to 14 with four steals at halftime.
 
For much of the third quarter, the Chargers held onto their double-digit lead, but saw it shrink to eight heading to the fourth. Sudmann led all scorers in the third with eight points on 3-of-5 shooting. Peyton Wingert grabbed three rebounds and dished out two assists in the period.
 
The Charger lead was as low as two points in the fourth, but the Cliff never surrendered the advantage as they led wire-to-wire. After an 8-2 Bulldog run to start the quarter, Payton Slaughter knocked down a clutch 3-pointer to swing the momentum back in BC's favor. Sudmann scored the next five points as they built their lead back to eight points.
 
Slaughter iced the contest in the final minute by going 5-for-6 from the free throw line.
 
Benne poured in 18 points, four rebounds, three assists and five steals to lead the Cliff. Sudmann had 15 points, six rebounds and two blocks. Slaughter had 10 points and eight rebounds, while Wingert totaled eight boards and three assists.
 
The Chargers advance to the GPAC Postseason Tournament Championship for the first time in program history and will face No. 1 seed Dordt Tuesday in Sioux Center, Iowa.

Since Dordt was the GPAC Regular Season Champion, the Chargers have also secured an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship Tournament.