Pride roll to 92-65 win over Baker

DUBUQUE, Iowa - Opening up the month of December with a home conference matchup, the Clarke University women's basketball team earned a comfortable 92-65 victory over Baker University on Saturday afternoon.

The matchup between the undefeated Pride and winless Wildcats stayed within single digits for a majority of first quarter before a quarter-ending 5-0 run from CU ended the opening 10 minutes with Clarke leading 22-10.

That would be about as close as it would get as a 29-10 second quarter that saw Clarke shoot 66.7 percent from the field compared to BU's 25 percent made it a 51-20 halftime margin behind a trio of seven-point quarters from Maci Kuchta, Mya Merschman, and Taylor Norris.

Those three were the leading scorers for CU in the game as Merschman finished with a game-high 22 points on 6-of-9 (66.7%) shooting from the field while adding seven rebounds and two assists for her second-straight 22-point performance and fifth 20-point game of the season.

Kuchta and Norris each added 14 points and three rebounds each while both Nicole McDermott and Taylor Haase also scored in double figures with 11 and 10 respectively as McDermott added 12 rebounds for her fourth double-double on the season.

Baker had three players in double figures led by Sophia Barrett's 19 points as Leah Van Weelden added 17 and Jaelyn Two Hearts added 16 but all three shot under 45 percent from the field to get to their point totals as the entire Wildcat team finished 25-for-68 (36.8%) from the field for the game.

Clarke shot 31-of-57 (54.4%) from the field, 10-of-20 (50%) from three, and 20-of-23 (87%) from the free throw line for their best combined shooting game from all three areas on the early season.

Pride women's basketball will be away from game action for finals week next week as they'll return to action on the road next Saturday when they travel to Parkville, Mo. to face Park University on Dec. 9 for a 12:00 p.m. CT tip.