Pride take care of business in 30-point win at Culver-Stockton

CANTON, Mo. - Coming off of one of their worst shooting performances of the season, the Clarke University women's basketball team ran away with a 92-62 win over Culver-Stockton College on the road on Wednesday night.

The biggest offensive lift for the Pride came from behind the three-point arc as they went from a 2-for-16 (12.5%) performance last Saturday at Park to hitting 11 of their 18 attempts to shoot a season-high tying 61.1 percent from deep. That performance from three point range was led by a pair of 3-for-3 performances by Nicole McDermott and Taylor Norris as both finished in double figures with McDermott pouring in a team-high 19 points and Norris adding 15 off the bench while Madison Lindauer added a pair of triples then Izzie Peterson, Mya Merschman, and Breeyona Burrell each hit one apiece.

For a majority of the first quarter, the Wildcats kept the game within one possession and even took a 15-13 lead with about two minutes remaining before CU finished the quarter on a 11-0 run to lead by nine at the quarter break and never look back.

Clarke's lead really extended in the third quarter when they outscored Culver-Stockton 27-11 where the Pride only missed three shots all quarter behind an eight-point period from McDermott, six points from Norris, four from Peterson and Merschman, then three from Lindauer as the third quarter was the only 10-minute period that CU didn't take a trip to the free throw line.

Ball movement was on point from the Pride as they recorded 24 assists on their 35 made baskets on the day led by Maci Kuchta's game-high seven helpers that tied her season-high and marks the ninth time in 10 games with two or more assists on an off shooting night where she only finished with two points. Six other members of the Pride, including the rest of the starting lineup had two or more assists in the game for those season-high 24 assists and 68.5 percent assist rate.

It was another day in the office for Taylor Haase as she scored 16 points on 6-of-7 (85.7%) shooting while grabbing six rebounds and adding a career-high five assists with no turnovers and adding a pair of steals and a blocked shot in 28 minutes.

Clarke women's basketball will finish off the week with a home matchup in the Heart of America when they welcome MidAmerica Nazarene University to the Kehl Center this Saturday for a 12:00 p.m. CT start time.