Pride clinch Heart regular season championship with 72-59 win over Baker

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. - Needing a win to clinch the Heart of America Athletic Conference Regular Season Championship outright, the Clarke University women's basketball team left no doubt on their way to a 72-59 win over Baker University on Saturday.

The win puts Clarke at a 17-2 record in Heart play to maintain their one-game lead over Grand View to clinch that regular season title for the first time in program history since joining the conference. CU already had clinched the No. 1 seed in the tournament but still had a chance to split the regular season championship with Grand View had the Pride lost and Vikings won on Saturday.

"Today is a big day for Clarke," head coach Courtney Boyd said. "This group has played through adversity up to this point and there was never a doubt whether the next person was going to step up. When you play for each other, the rest usually takes care of itself."

The Pride only trailed in the very early stages of the game and were only outscored in the fourth quarter as they were able to build their lead up to 20 points during different parts of the second half.

As a team, CU shot 52.3 percent from the field coming off of a rough shooting night earlier this week against William Penn as their defense continued to limit their opponents with the Wildcats shooting 33.9 percent and turned it over 21 times leading to 26 Clarke points.

Nicole McDermott led all players in scoring as she poured in 22 points, only missing one shot from the field to go 6-of-7 overall and 5-for-6 from three point range while adding six rebounds. Emma Kelchen was the only other member of the Pride in double figures as she scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds of her own.

Giana Michels (9 points, 6 rebounds), Tina Ubl (9 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds), and Taylor Haase (8 points) were all on the cusp of double figures while providing key depth in other areas.

Three Wildcats scoring double digits led by Sara Oca's 15 and supported by 12 from Sophia Barrett and 11 from Ashley Griffin.

Clarke women's basketball will return home for a regular season celebration, open to fans, to take place following CU men's volleyball's match tomorrow at noon against Culver-Stockton College.

"We are looking forward to soaking in this win for a couple of days before we start focusing on postseason," Boyd said.

The Heart Tournament will begin on Thursday, Feb. 24 as the Pride will host Evangel University at the Kehl Center for a 6:00 p.m. CT scheduled tip.