Pride grind their way to 48-35 road win at Governors State

UNIVERSITY PARK, Ill. - On a day where shots weren't falling, the Clarke University women's basketball team was able to get through 40 minutes on their way to a 48-35 win over Governors State University on Saturday afternoon.

Both teams shot an identical 24.6 percent from the field as the Pride went 16-for-65 and the Jaguars finished 14-for-57 Clarke was able to make more two pointers, three pointers, and free throws by the end of the game.

"In a game when shots aren't falling and both teams have to play through contact, it's a test of whose defense is going to last," head coach Courtney Boyd said. "We were able to force them into some quick and off balance shots that helped us down the stretch."

Two key stats that stuck out for the Pride on Saturday were turnovers and points off of turnovers as well as second chance points. Clarke turned Governors State over 15 times leading to 19 Pride points while the Jaguars only scored two points off of CU's nine turnovers.

CU was led offensively by a break out game from senior Emma Kelchen as she scored a game-high 21 points while adding seven rebounds and four assists in a season-high 31 minutes.

It was a post-heavy day for scoring as the Pride also got 10 points from Taylor Haase off the bench with nobody else in the lineup scoring more than six points on the day.

Governors State was led by an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double from Trinity Simms as she was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field, 2-for-2 from three but went 1-for-4 from the free throw line.

There were a lot of rebounds to go around with a combined 92 misses from the field and 10 misses from the free throw line as everyone who grabbed one rebound had three or more for Clarke led by 10 from Tina Ubl as Skylar Culbertson continued to rebound well following a 12-rebound performance last Wednesday with nine more on Saturday.

"When they adjusted to a zone defense, we took advantage of opens but couldn't get shots to fall," Boyd said. "Happy we brought our defense today and it carried us for most of the game."

Clarke will stay on their road for one more game before starting Heart play in two weeks as they will travel to Columbia, Mo. to face Columbia College next Tuesday, Nov. 15 for a 5:30 p.m. CT tip.