Pride cruise to 20-point win over Mount Mercy

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - On the same day they entered the top 10 of the NAIA Coaches' Poll, the Clarke University women's basketball team earned a 77-57 victory on the road over Mount Mercy University on Wednesday night.

The Pride were able to build up their lead over the first three quarters to hold that 20-plus point advantage throughout most of the fourth quarter and allow a significant amount of minutes for the bench personnel.

It was still a strong scoring night for the starting five as the five starters were the five leading scorers for CU led by Emma Kelchen's game-high tying 15 points while adding eight rebounds.

Skylar Culbertson put up her second-straight double figure scoring performance with 11 points while adding eight rebounds herself and dishing out five assists. Nicole McDermott and Tina Ubl finished with 10 points each as Ubl grabbed the game-high nine rebounds and also added five assists with McDermott finishing with seven rebounds.

The starters were rounded out by an eight-point performance from Giana Michels as she went 2-for-4 from three point range and grabbed five rebounds in the game.

The high individual rebounding numbers led to a large team rebounding margin in favor of Clarke as they outrebounded the Mustangs 54-28, including grabbing 20 more defensive rebounds.

That rebounding effort along with holding MMU to just 33.3 percent shooting from the field allowed the Pride to maintain their lead throughout and even lose the turnover battle 20-12 in favor of Mount Mercy.

Sammy Mia tied Kelchen's game-high in points as she scored 15 points but had to take 15 shots to get there as she went 7-of-15 from the field while Sassy Coleman was the only other member of the Mustangs in double figures as she added 11.

Clarke women's basketball will remain on the road for their Saturday game inside the Heart of America Athletic Conference when they travel to Atchison, Kan. to face Benedictine College for a 12 p.m. CT scheduled start.