Pride fall on the road to MidAmerica Nazarene 69-59
OLATHE, Kan. - For the second-straight road game in the Heart of America Athletic Conference, the Clarke University women's basketball team suffered a defeat this time at the hands of MidAmerica Nazarene University by a 69-59 final on Saturday.
A 16-12 first quarter lead for the Pride extended into 20-12 early in the second quarter but the Pioneers came roaring back to outscore CU 17-5 over the final 6:16 of the half before Emma Kelchen hit a shut just before the buzzer to make it a 29-27 MNU lead heading into the half.
MidAmerica Nazarene held their strong play and momentum into the third quarter, outscoring Clarke out of the break 18-7 for their largest lead of the game at 47-34 with just under four minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Clarke was able to rally to cut the lead to seven points at 48-41 heading into the fourth and cut the MNU lead to a one-possession game at 53-50 with 5:48 but the Pioneers were able to take CU's best punch and keep fighting to hit their next three-straight three point attempts to pull the lead back up to double digits as they mad enough free throws and got enough stops to close out the 10-point win.
The Pride's offensive struggles mainly came from behind the three-point line as they finished 3-for-24 (12.5%) from distance as MNU shot a strong 42.1 percent (8-for-19) as those late fourth quarter threes played most critical.
MidAmerica Nazarene's TrEl'Shawn Smith was the game's leading scorer as she finished with 26 points in 35 minutes of action as she went 10-for-18 (55.6%) from the field and 2-for-4 (50%) from three point range.
Of the six players who scored for Clarke, five finished in double figures but only two players shot over 37 percent led by Tina Ubl's 14 points on 4-of-8 (50%) shooting from the field. Taylor Haase also shot 50 percent on 4-of-8 shooting from the field for 10 points off the bench but dealt with minor foul trouble in the early portions of the game to limit her to 17 minutes.
With finals week coming up for the Pride student-athletes, CU women's basketball will be away from game action until next Saturday as they'll stay on the road for their next game against Missouri Valley College on Dec. 10 at 12:00 p.m. CT.