Pride dominate second half on their way to blowout win over Graceland

LAMONI, Iowa - In their first rematch game of the 2022-23 season, the Clarke University women's basketball team earned a victory over Graceland University by nearly the same score as the first matchup in a 90-51 win on the road.

CU's home win over the Yellowjackets on Nov. 29 finished at a 91-48 victory for the Pride where the first half saw Clarke outscore Graceland 48-17 where tonight's meeting saw only an eight-point advantage at halftime grow to 31 after a 38-point third quarter following just scoring 37 points in the first half all together.

In that third quarter, the Pride shot 11-of-18 (61.1%) from the field and a stellar 6-for-9 (66.7%) from three point range as the 38 points in the period is by far their best scoring quarter of the season as they scored 30 in two different quarters in earlier games this season. The trio of Giana Michels, Emma Kelchen, and Tina Ubl all made multiple field goals and at least one three pointer in the third as point guard Skylar Culbertson seemed to find the open teammate frequently with six of her game-high 11 assists coming in the third quarter.

That trio of Michels (15), Ubl (15), and Kelchen (10) all scored in double figures but were still outscored in the game by Pride sophomore Mya Merschman who put up a career-high 18 points off the bench on 7-of-12 (58.3%) shooting from the field and 4-of-7 (57.1%) shooting from three point range. Michels' 15 points is a season-high for the senior as she went 5-of-9 (55.6%) from the field and 2-of-6 (33.3%) as tonight marked the first game of the season for Culbertson reaching double digit assists.

The supporting scoring had a good balance for Clarke with both Nicole McDermott and Madison Lindauer both finishing with nine points as McDermott added six rebounds and two assists while Lindauer grabbed four boards. Culbertson's full statline shows five points and five rebounds with those 11 assists as Taylor Haase scored seven off the bench while adding four rebounds of her own.

The Yellowjackets only managed 22 points in the second half as they shot 30.4 percent from the field for the game compared to 49.1 percent for the Pride as the three-point shooting was on the mark for the Pride at 53.8 percent compared to just 22.7 percent for Graceland.

Clarke will remain on the road for their next matchup in the Heart in another second meeting of the season when they travel to Des Moines, Iowa for 12:00 p.m. CT tip against Grand View University.