Pride hold off pesky Bees for win in non-conference rematch
DUBUQUE, Iowa - Heading into the holiday weekend with one final non-conference game to close out 2023, the Clarke University women's basketball team earned a 90-78 win in their second meeting against St. Ambrose University of the season on Friday night.
There weren't many missed shots to go around as the Pride finished at 31-58 (53.4%) from the field and 10-21 (47.6%) from three point range while SAU wasn't far off of those numbers, shooting 32-66 (48.5%) from the field and a near-equal 10-24 (41.7%) from three.
A 34-24 first quarter was the extreme positive end of the shooting success as the two teams combined to go for 22-33 (66.7%) from the field and 9-13 (69.2%) from deep as Nicole McDermott and Mya Merschman scored 11 and 10 respectively in the quarter while Abby Wolter also had 11 for St. Ambrose in the period.
Most of that quarter stayed within a one possession game at a 23-20 CU lead with about two minutes remaining before the Pride ended on an 11-4 run to lead by 10 at the end of the opening 10. That lead would be cut all the way down to just two points in the first two minutes of the second quarter as Clarke didn't get their first basket of the quarter until under the six minute mark but would once again end the quarter strong to lead 48-41 at the half.
Another rough start to begin the third quarter allowed the Fighting Bees to tie the game at 54-54 for the first time Clarke didn't lead since 2-2 about 30 seconds into the game, forcing a CU timeout that would lead to a 6-0 Pride run where they would never lose that lead for the remainder of the game.
Taylor Norris provided a jolt of offensive energy off the bench, scoring a Clarke career-high 24 points just five points off of her collgiate career-high as she went 7-12 (58.3%) from the field and 6-8 (75%) from three point range to tie McDermott's team high of 25 as McDermott was one rebound away from a dobule-double and scored her 24 without attempting a three pointer.
Merschman finished with 19 points and nine rebounds while Maci Kuchta was the final member of the Pride with double figures at 10 points while adding five rebounds herself as both Izzie Peterson and Taylor Haase and Izzie Peterson finished strong from the scoring side with all but one point from Haase coming in the late moments of the fourth quarter between the two as Haase put up eight boards and Peterson dished out six assists.
Wolter finished as the game's high scorer with 26 points on 11-15 (73.3%) shooting from the field as she only scored seven back in the first meeting on Nov. 1 on 3-18 shooting to provide a strong boost for the Bees in the rematch.
Three other players scored in double figures for SAU with Caitlyn Thole adding 15, Kashell Daughty scoring 12, and Kaitlyn Brunson finishing with 10 as no other member of the team had more than seven points.
Clarke will head into their winter break 12-0 on the season for by far their longest unbeaten start to a season in program history as they push their overall winning streak to 18 games dating back to the start of the 2023 NAIA Tournament as the 18-game winning streak ties a program record set in the 2021-22 season.
The Pride will be off for the entirety of the next week as they will return to game action on Wednesday, Jan. 3 when they hit the road in Heart of America Athletic Conference play against Grand View University for a 5:30 p.m. CT tip in Des Moines.