Pride roll to 77-42 road win over Judson

ELGIN, Ill. - Coming off of an outstanding offensive performance in their last game, the Clarke University women's basketball team busted out some stellar defense on Tuesday night in their 77-42 win over Judson University.

The Pride allowed their season low points against against the Eagles with that 42-point output as they also limited JU to only two points in the first quarter alone on a made jump shot by Judson at the 5:05 mark in the quarter. Over the remainder of the period, the Eagles went 0-10 from the field and also turned the ball over eight times.

Conversely, Clarke went 10-16 (62.5%) from the field in the first quarter on their way to scoring 22 points in the opening 10 minutes while also assisting on six of the 10 made baskets in the frame. The one-sided affair lasted the rest of the first half as CU outscored Judson 21-8 in the second quarter as JU cut down on the turnovers but still only made three shots from the field in the second quarter.

That 43-10 halftime deficit allowed head coach Courtney Boyd to spread minutes around to the entirety of her roster as no starter played over 21 minutes in the game and only one player on the entire roster played over 25 minutes.

"Tonight was a game we needed after a handful our last two overnight trips," Boyd said. "Our defense in the first half was good to see, we were communicating and rotating as one. Coming off of this win has us looking forward to a few days of cleaning up something things to be able to finish off the week strong at home."

That player with over 25 minutes was senior guard Hannah Ambrosy as she finished with a team-high 14 points on 5-of-10 (50%) shooting from the field in 26 minutes while adding two rebounds, a steal, and an assist. Sophomore Nicole McDermott was right behind Ambrosy with 13 points in the game, going 6-of-8 (75%) from the field while adding five rebounds.

Emma Kelchen (12 pts/5 reb), Isabel Manning (9 pts/5 reb), Giana Michels (8 pts/3 reb), Tina Ubl (8 pts/5 reb), and Taylor Haase (8 pts/2 reb) all provided multiple made shots and rebounds in the game in support of McDermott and Ambrosy. Even without scoring a point, Izzie Peterson provided a strong game leading all players with four assists while grabbing three rebounds in just 20 minutes of action.

Pride women's basketball will return home for their first game at the Kehl Center since October when they host University of St. Francis on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. CT.