Pride earn 10th win in Heart play with 61-47 win over Graceland
DUBUQUE, Iowa - On a tough shooting night at the Kehl Center, the Clarke University women's basketball team was still able to come out on top over Graceland University on Wednesday night by a 61-47 final score.
Both teams shot under 43 percent from the field as the Pride shot the worse percentage of the two teams from the field, finishing at 24-of-66 (36.4%) compared to Graceland's 19-of-45 (42.2%).
Where CU was able to take advantage was forcing turnovers as the Yellowjackets turned the ball over 24 times that led to 18 Pride points compred to GU only scoring eight points on just 14 Clarke turnovers.
Turnovers played a big part in the first quarter where Clarke jumped out to a 16-4 lead at the end of the opening 10 minutes as the game went scoreless for the first 2:30 before Nicole McDermott got the first bucket of the game. Graceland went on to turn the ball over five times before scoring their first basket at the 5:45 mark of the first quarter.
The Yellowjackets pushed back a little in the second quarter, starting the period on a 10-1 run where the quarter finished at CU shooting just 3-of-16 (18.8%) from the field and scoring nine points but they held on to a 25-18 lead at the break.
The second half had improved offensive efficiency from both teams as Graceland was able to keep the game within 12 of less for a significant amount of the half before Clarke closed it out with that 61-47 finish.
Individually, Giana Michels and Tina Ubl led the way for Clarke with 11 points each as Graceland's Heaven Mbaruk led all scorers with 17 points. The Yellowjackets had two others in double figures with Brooke Vermeer and Madilyn Sager adding 14 and 10 respectively but GU only had two other players combined to score six points out of the rest of the lineup.
The support scoring for Clarke was deeper as they got Emma Kelchen (9), Hannah Ambrosy (8), Nicole McDermott (6), Skylar Culbertson (5), Izzie Peterson (4), Taylor Haase (4), and Rebecca Schroeder (2) all produced baskets from the field with Mya Merschmann adding a point from the free throw line.
Clarke women's basketball will return to the Kehl Center floor this Saturday when they host the No. 13 ranked Eagles of Central Methodist University for a 12:00 p.m. tip off.