Pride push No. 12 MidAmerica Nazarene but fall short in fourth quarter

DUBUQUE, Iowa - Hosting the top ranked team in the Heart of America Athletic Conference for their first game on their home floor in 17 days, the Clarke University women's basketball team fell to No. 12 MidAmerica Nazarene University 76-56 on Saturday afternoon at the Kehl Center.

Early in the game, the Pioneers showed their might, slowly growing their lead over the first and second quarter to an eventual 16-point margin at 44-28 after an 18-11 first quarter and a 26-17 second quarter as that high-scoring second quarter for MNU came behind a 10-for-15 (66.7%) shooting percentage from the field along with a 3-for-4 quarter from three point range behind a 3-for-3 10 minutes from Mary Lukert, who scored 11 of her game-high tying 19 in the second quarter.

The Pride came out in the second half employing a three-quarters court press on MidAmerica Nazarene that sped up the visitors a bit to the tune of a six-turnover quarter, allowing CU to cut the lead that grew to 19 points early in the third all the way down to just a seven point lead with about 3:30 left in the quarter after a 10-0 run in about 2:30 of game time to make it a 53-46 game.

MNU was able to get the final bucket of the third to push their lead back up to nine points heading into the fourth as Clarke was able to mirror the Pioneers 18-11 first quarter with their own 18-11 advantage in the third after shooting 8-for-16 (50%) in the quarter with a pair of threes, one apiece from Josie Potts and Zoe Kennedy.

Unfortunately for CU, their offense would go cold in the final frame, shooting 3-for-14 (21.4%) with two of those make coming from deep as they only scored three points in the first 6:30 of the quarter, allowing MidAmerica Nazarene to go on a 14-3 run over that stretch and hold a 20-point lead, their largest at the time and the eventual final margin.

Potts and Kennedy both finished with matching 10-point games, both hitting a pair of three pointers with Breckan Stewart and Jessica Morgan providing 14 and eight points off the bench respectively, also both hitting two triples, as Stewart finished her second-straight game with a new career-high with those 14 points on 6-of-10 (60%) shooting from the field as Morgan's eight matched her career-high from Nov. 11 at Morningside but set a new career-high with 20 minutes played.

Kameron Green matched Luckert's 19 points as she added a game-high 14 rebounds for a double-double with Aubrey Rogers adding 10, then both Kayanna Cranmer and Grace Carlson finishing with nine points to round out the starting five for MNU.

Pride women's basketball will be off from game action in the mid-week during finals week next week while preparing for a Saturday, Dec. 13 home matchup in the Heart against Central Methodist University in the Kehl Center for another noon tip.