Pride hang on through Grand View's second half surge to open 2024 with a win
DES MOINES, Iowa - Opening up the 2024 calendar year with their toughest road test of the season, the Clarke University women's basketball team was able to earn a slim 71-69 victory over Grand View University on Wednesday evening.
In a game that saw the Pride only win one quarter of action, that quarter was a significant 25-10 second quarter advantage that saw CU go from down three at the start of the period to up 12 points at the halftime break.
That strong 10 minutes mattered the most as the Vikings put up their strongest push in the second half to a 19-16 third quarter then a 25-18 fourth with GVU cutting Clarke's lead to just one point on multiple occasions down the stretch.
It first became a one-point margin thanks to a 6-0 run from Grand View as they answered a Madison Lindauer three pointer to make it 62-55 to cut it to 62-61 in about 1:30 of game time before Izzie Peterson hit a three of her own to give CU a much important four-point lead with 2:45 remaining.
The next two minutes saw a scoring drought on both sides where the only points were a Nicole McDermott free throw to extend the Pride lead to 66-61 before Cleao Murray made back-to-back shots with a three and a layup sandwiched around a Peterson free throw to make it 67-66 with the shot clock turned off under 30 seconds left in the game.
Clutch free throws from Mya Merschman and a stop on the defensive end would all but seal the 13th win of the season for Clarke as the Vikings' last ditch effort of a free throw and a tip-in put back with 0.9 remaining gave them three points to make the final margin just two points but it wasn't enough.
McDermott and Murray were the game's high scorers as Murray led all players with a 22-point performance on 4-of-10 (40%) shooting from three and 8-of-18 (44.4%) overall while McDermott had 20 points of her own with five rebounds, three assists, three steals, and a blocked shot.
Murray's performance behind the three point line stood out on a night where Grand View struggled as a team from deep otherwise as the rest of the team went 1-for-18 (5.6%) from three compared to a 5-for-14 (35.7%) performance from Clarke, who was much less reliant on the three, shooting 22-of-45 (45.8%) on two-point field goals.
Behind McDermott's 20, Clarke got 12 from Taylor Haase, 10 apiece from Merschman and Peterson, seven from Maci Kuchta, then six from both Lindauer and Taylor Norris off the bench as Merschman (8), Kuchta (6), and Lindauer (6) all had strong individual rebounding performances.
The Pride maintain the top spot in the Heart of America Athletic Conference in a 2024-opening battle between the top-two teams in the Heart standings as CU moves to 13-0 overall and 9-0 in the Heart moving the Vikings to 12-2 overall and 8-2 in the Heart.
Clarke will now prepare for another road trip this Saturday when they face another team at the top of the Heart standings in Missouri Valley College for a 12:00 p.m. CT start time in Marshall, Mo. between the Pride and Vikings.