Pride win regular season finale to clinch spot in Heart Tournament

PERU, Neb. - Closing out the 2024-25 regular season in the same gym against the same opponent as the season prior, the Clarke University women's basketball team earned a win that was one point different than that game in 2024 with an 86-73 win at Peru State College on Saturday afternoon.

After a slow start for the Pride leading to a 21-15 advantage for PSC after 10 minutes, CU would rally to win each of the next three quarters, including an important 26-12 third quarter following Clarke taking multiple leads in the second quarter but not going up by any more than three points at any time and the Bobcats leading by a slim two-point margin at halftime.

Clarke would take their first lead of the second half at the 7:49 mark when Josie Potts hit a layup to make it 47-45 as the Pride would never trail again from that point on, going on a 14-0 run over five minutes in the third that would extend to a 16-4 run to end the final 6:11 of the period, capped off by a Zoe Kennedy layup at the buzzer to make it 66-54 after three.

Kennedy scored 10 in the third and was answered by another 10-point quarter in the fourth by freshman Reese Ryan as she went 5-for-6 from the field in her five minutes of action in the fourth to finish with 16 points on the game, which tied her career-high that she set on Jan. 4 in a home win against the Bobcats.

Kennedy had a game-high 25 points while posting eight rebounds and eight assists, which were both game highs for the sophomore from Cedar Rapids, Iowa who would finish the regular season averaging a conference-best 18.8 points per game and 4.5 assists per game in her first season in CU navy and gold after transferring in from Western Colorado.

Maci Kuchta, Sydni Morris, and Potts joined Kennedy and Ryan in double figures as Kuchta scored 13 points and had four assists in 40 minutes for her 12th game of the year playing every minute of a game to lead the Heart with 38.2 minutes per game on the season, then Morris added 11 and Potts finished at 10 points on the day.

The Bobcats were led offensively by 21 points from Kylie Diaz as she also added six blocked shots on the game with Erison Vonderschmidt and Natasha Deal producing 15 points each then Hailey Ingram finished off their double figures scorers with a 10-point game but the team would finish to shoot 38.8 percent from the field compared to CU's 53.2 percent.

Clarke women's basketball earned their spot into the Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament with the win as they claimed the No. 8 seed as they will start the tournament on Tuesday, Feb. 25 when they travel to Olathe, Kan. for a 7:00 p.m. CT tip against No. 1 seed MidAmerica Nazarene University.