McDermott joins 1,000-point club, Pride handle Culver-Stockton 66-50
CANTON, Mo. - A game that could have easily been overlooked given what's looming on Saturday, the Clarke University women's basketball team took care of business in a 66-50 win over Culver-Stockton College on Wednesday night.
The middle quarters were where the Pride were able to really grow a comfortable lead after only holding a two-point edge after a quarter, they combined between the second and third to outscore the Wildcats 39-19 to lead by 22 heading into the final frame.
In the 19-8 second quarter, CU shot a strong 8-of-13 (61.5%) from the field while limiting Culver-Stockton to 4-for-14 (28.6%) shooting from the field then in the third quarter where Clarke held a 20-11 advantage, averages came a little bit closer to the norm but Clarke still shot 8-for-14 (57.1%) from the field while the Wildcats finished the period 4-for-13 (30.8%).
On the individual side, the Pride had another statistical milestone in what seems to be a weekly occurance as junior guard Nicole McDermott reached 1,000 carrer points with her 10-point performance on Wednesday.
"Another big milestone for another big player," head coach Courtney Boyd said. "Nicole has had to find other ways to score this year because she's been scouted and that hasn't slowed her performance down one bit. Best part about Nic is that she showed more emotion for hitting our team defensive goal than she did when she hit 1,000 points."
She becomes the 16th player in Clarke women's basketball history to do it and the second player this season to hit the mark after Emma Kelchen also hit the milestone on Jan. 16 against William Penn. McDermott also becomes the first women's basketball player for Clarke to reach 1,000 points as a junior since Tina Ubl did so in 2020-21 and Morgan Pitz also did so before Ubl in the 2019-20 season.
The game's leading scorer was Kelchen as CU's starting center finished with 18 points on 6-of-10 (60%) shooting from the field while adding three rebounds, two steals, and an assist. Beyond Kelchen and McDermott's scoring, both Taylor Haase added nine points off the bench, both Mya Merschman and Ubl added eight apiece, and Giana Michels added six points on the night.
Culver-Stockton had two players in double figures in McKenzie Lathrom's 11 points and Katie Webb's 10 but Latrhom took 14 shots to get to her 11 while Webb went 3-of-8 (42.9%) from the field with four of her 10 coming from the free throw line.
What's looming on Saturday for the Pride is a rematch against one of the two teams that have handed them a loss this season as undefeated and No. 2 ranked Central Methodist University will visit the Kehl Center for the first time since the 2022 Heart Tournament Championship game for a 2:00 p.m. CT tip in Dubuque.