Pride season comes to a close with 78-72 NAIA Tournament loss to Dakota Wesleyan

DUBUQUE, Iowa - With a return trip to Sioux City on the line, the Clarke University women's basketball team fell by a 78-72 final against Dakota Wesleyan University on Saturday night in the Kehl Center.

In the 2/7 second round matchup part of the Duer Quadrant in the 2024 NAIA Tournament, the Pride opened Saturday's game with a one-point first quarter advantage similar to their Friday game against College of the Ozarks but would struggle in the middle two quarters to go from up 16-15 after a quarter to trail by 11 points at 53-42 entering the final 10 minutes of the game.

Shortly into the fourth quarter, the Tigers would extend their lead to the game's largest at 13 points with a pair of free throws as they would maintain that double digit lead until about six minutes remained as the closest CU would come would be at 68-65 with 1:28 to go but a Morgan Edelman layup would push the lead back up to five before DWU would close out the game making eight of their final 10 free throws to put the game away.

Dakota Wesleyan was led by a pair of strong performances from freshman Emma Yost and sophomore Rylee Rosenquist as they both scored over 20 with Yost leading all players with a 28-point performance on 9-of-13 (69.2%) shooting from the field, 3-of-3 from three point range, all in the first half, and 7-of-8 shooting from the free throw line, which is where Rosenquist did a majority of her work, going 11-for-12 from the line on her way to a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double.

The Tigers' big offensive advantage came from the free throw line, only missing three total free throws in the game, two of which came in the final moments when they weren't necessary, as they finished 29-for-32 (90.6%) compared to CU shooting a little more than half of DWU free throw attempts to go 14-for-17 (82.4%) from the line.

Clarke had three players in double figures led by an 18-point, 10-rebound game from senior Nicole McDermott as she finished 7-for-12 (58.3%) from the field while adding three steals, and two assists. Taylor Norris and Mya Merschman added 15 and 12 points respectively as Merschman added six rebounds and Norris hit three of the team's six three pointers in the game.

Izzie Peterson (8), Maci Kuchta (7), and Taylor Haase (6) all finished with three makes from the field and Madison Lindauer rounded out the Pride scoring with six of her own as Haase had to play through foul trouble along with Peterson and McDermott for most of the game as Haase fouled out early in the fourth quarter.

Clarke women's basketball finished the 2023-24 season with a 29-3 overall record, their second Heart of America Athletic Conference Regular Season Championship, and their sixth-straight appearance in the NAIA Tournament.