Kennedy's big night not enough as Pride fall at Grand View
DES MOINES, Iowa - Facing off against one of their fiercest conference rivals as of late, the Clarke University women's basketball team dropped a 10-point game on the road to Grand View University as the Vikings earned a 73-63 win on Wednesday night.
In a game that played almost exactly evenly in the second half, the home team used a strong first half and a 19-10 second quarter in particular to cushion their lead heading into halftime to 11 points at 40-29 after trailing 25-21 with just under eight minutes remaining in the half where GVU finished the final 7:12 of the period on a 19-4 run.
The Pride weren't able to cut the deficit much closer than six points for the entirety of the second half with the largest lead the Vikings took coming in the fourth quarter at a 16-point margin with just under five minutes to go at 69-53, allowing them to weather a 10-4 run from Clarke to finish that final 4:51.
At a box score glance, the difference in the game came from Grand View hitting three more three pointers (7-4) and an extra free throw (16-15) more than CU in the game as GVU shot 25-for-59 (42.4%) overall from the field compared to Clarke's 22-for-66 (33.3%) for both teams to hit exactly 18 shots from two over the 40-minute contest.
The game's leading scorer as the Pride's lone scorer in double figures as junior Zoe Kennedy produced 32 points on 13-of-22 (51.9%) shooting from the field while going 2-for-5 (40%) from three and a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line as she added nine rebounds, an assist, and a steal in a full 40-minute performance.
No other member CU's full lineup produced more than Breckan Stewarts nine points as she added two rebounds and two assists off the bench in 18 minutes while Reese Ryan had six points and nine rebounds and Camdyn Kay added five points, six rebounds, and two steals.
In a more balanced scoring effort, the Vikings had four players in double figures led by a 26-point performance off the bench from Taryn Ottemann as she added 13 rebounds for a double-double while a trio of starters in Ellie Knock, Eva Solseth, and Amaya Davison had 12, 12, and 11 respectively with Knock adding 12 rebounds to her 12 points for a double-double of her own.
Clarke women's basketball will return home for their final game of the month of January when they host Missouri Valley College on Saturday, Jan. 31 for a 12:00 p.m. CT scheduled opening tip between CU and MVC.