Walters and Kuchta come up clutch in Pride's one-point win over CMU

DUBUQUE, Iowa - In the middle of a stretch of four-straight home games, the Clarke University women's basketball team had to produce their second-straight fourth quarter comeback to earn an 80-79 win over Central Methodist University on Saturday afternoon in the Kehl Center.

Trailing by as many as 11 points in the second half, the Pride and Eagles traded blows and leads for most of the final four minutes of the game when Hailey Walters hit her first of two huge three pointers late in the game to give CU one-point leads each time.

With just under four minutes remaining Walters knocked down a three to give Clarke a 68-67 lead, which was the Pride's first lead of the game since their 13-12 lead from the first quarter with about 3:45 left in the opening 10-minute period.

The two teams would go back and forth to the tune of five ties and six lead changes from that 68-67 CU lead with less than four minutes remaining with a potential turning point of the game coming with about 20 seconds left following a pair of Clarke missing at a tie score of 77-77 when Maci Kuchta committed a back court foul to send Sa'Mya Stevens to the line for CMU.

Stevens would knock down both free throws to give the Eagles the lead before Clarke would call a timeout to advance the ball with 16 seconds left to draw up a play to put the ball into Kuchta's hands where she would find Walters in a similar spot where she hit her earlier go-ahead triple as she would do it again to make it 80-79 with six seconds remaining.

This time it would be Central Methodist to call a timeout and advance the ball for their own potential game-winner as they would opt to put the ball in the hands of Nautica Washington as she would go over a high ball screen, fumble the ball slightly to force her into the short corner where she would take an off balanced shot that would fall off target into the hands of Walters to end the game.

Washington's number was the right one to call for CMU as she finished as the game's leading scorer at 26 points while going 9-for-14 (64.3%) from the field as she added six rebounds and two assists as Stevens was the only Eagles player to join her in double figures as she finished with an 18-point, 12-rebound double-double.

Four members of the Pride finished in double figures led by Zoe Kennedy's 22-point, 12-rebound double-double as Kuchta added 21 points, eight assists, and six rebounds, Walters finished with 16 points, and Sydni Morris added 10 points despite dealing with foul trouble for most of the game and eventually fouling out in the fourth.

A major factor in Clarke overcoming a first half where they went into halftime down nine points was a flip in fortune of the CMU three point shooting as they went 7-for-10 (70%) from deep in the first half to finish the game 0-for-7 in the second half from behind the arc.

Moving their record to 6-1 overall and 4-1 in the Heart, Pride women's basketball will be off during the week next week due to finals week before returning to their home court on Saturday, Dec. 14 when they host MidAmerica Nazarene University for a 12:00 p.m. CT tip against the Pioneers.