Pride power past William Penn for 74-57 victory

OSKALOOSA, Iowa - Nearing the end of the regular season, the Clarke University women's basketball team was able to recover after their first loss since early December to a 74-57 win over William Penn University on the road on Wednesday night.

The game was closely contested through a majority of the first quarter as it was a 10-10 game with under two minutes remaining but that wasn't long lived as the Pride scored on an Emma Kelchen layup to start a 7-0 run to close out the period up 17-0.

That run would extned to 18-2 through the 5:40 mark in the second quarter as they led 28-12 and never looked back, extending their lead to 34-21 at halftime before exploding offensively in the third quarter to a 28-point period and a 62-36 advantage heading into the final frame.

Kelchen was the game's leading scorer with 17 points on 7-of-8 (87.5%) shooting from the field while adding four rebounds and a block on the night. Giana Michels, Taylor Haase, Tina Ubl, and Mya Merschman all finished in double figures as well with Michels providing 14, Haase and Merschman scoring 11 and 10 off the bench respectively, and Ubl also adding 10 points.

Not putting up much in the scoring department, both Skylar Culbertson and Nicole McDermott provided value in the assist and rebound department as McDermott led the game with 10 boards and five assists with Culbertson adding seven rebounds and four dimes.

Clarke women's basketball will return home for their next game on Saturday when they host MidAmerica Nazarene University for a 2:00 p.m. CT tip in the Kehl Center.