Pride roll to 94-61 win over No. 19 Saint Xavier

DUBUQUE, Iowa - Finishing up their semester with a ranked matchup, the No. 15 Clarke University women's basketball team came away with a resounding 94-61 win over No. 19 Saint Xavier University.

It was an all-around win for the Pride as they shot 46.4 percent (26-56) from the field, 45.5 percent (5-11) from three-point range and 72.5 percent (37-51) from the free throw line. On the defensive end, CU held the Cougars to 28.9 percent (24-83) shooting from the field, 21.4 percent (6-28) from three-point range, and only sent Saint Xavier to the free throw line nine times, where they hit seven of their free throws.

"This is what we have been waiting for," head coach Courtney Boyd said. "To come out at the beginning of the game strong and put ourselves in a good position against a tough team to play at our pace knowing that they like to play fast."

It was a balanced scoring effor from the Pride as they scored 28, 24, and 27 in the first three quarters and finished the game with five players in double figures led by 20 from Emma Kelchen. Kelchen shot an efficient 7-of-9 from the field on her way to leading all players in scoring and rebounding as she added nine rebounds as well as a blocked shot to complete her game.

The four other players in double figures for Clarke were Nicole McDermott with 18, Giana Michels with 15, Taylor Haase with 15, and Mya Merschman with 10.

Michels got the Pride rolling in the second half by scoring the first 11 points of the third quarter as she drained three-straight three pointers, all assisted by Izzie Peterson from the left side of the floor, with a pair of free throws in the middle to put CU up 63-32 within the first two minutes of the half. The full stretch of the run to start the second half for Clarke was a 15-0 run over the first 2:50 of the third quarter to take a 67-32 lead.

The rest of the CU lineup finished all contributed in various ways as Hannah Ambrosy had six points and two rebounds, Tina Ubl had four points, eight rebounds, three assists, a steal, and a block, Peterson finished with three points, six assists, and two rebounds, Rebecca Schroeder added three points and five rebounds, Isabel Manning grabbed two rebounds and added an assist, and Jenna Blunt played five minutes without recording a stat but played mistake-free basketball for CU.

"That was the full 40 minutes of basketball that we knew they had in them." Boyd said. "No better time for it to happen then at the end of the semester before we go home for the holidays. We can now enjoy the break coming off a big win, get refeshed, and be ready to start strong next semester."

The Cougars had two players in double figures as Sidney Lovitsch finished with a team-high 13 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field and Alyssa Streeter scored 10 points on 4-of-15 shooting.

Clarke women's basketball will now be away from game action for 11 days when they return to the floor on Dec. 29-30 for back-to-back days of games in Bellevue, Neb. against Bellevue University and Mayville State University.