Pride hang on to earn hard fought road win at MidAmerica Nazarene

OLATHE, Kan. - In their first trip away from Dubuque in 12 days, the Clarke University women's basketball team pulled off a 65-60 victory over MidAmerica Nazarene University on the road on Saturday afternoon.

In a first half where their only deficits came by one point in the opening quarter, the Pride also never led by more than eight in the opening 20 minutes at 26-18 but that was shortly erased by a Pioneer 8-0 run to tie it at 26-26 before Clarke ended the half on a Mya Merschman two-pointer to lead by two at the half.

The third quarter looked similar to the first, seeing MNU grab a lead back but only by a single point before Clarke quickly regained a lead and would then never trail for the remainder of the game following the 2:55 mark left in the third when they broke a 40-40 tie on a Taylor Norris basket.

Opening the fourth quarter with back-to-back baskets from a Nicole McDermott two and a Norris three to push their lead to 54-44 and forcing a MidAmerica Nazarene timeout. That timeout wouldn't stop that CU run though as they would add free throws from McDermott and a bucket from Taylor Haase to extend that lead to 14 points, their largest of the game.

That would be where the Pioneers would begin a late rally, holding the Pride without a make from the field for most of the remainder of the game as their next and last field goal would come when Haase would score again with 43 seconds left to extend Clarke's lead to 62-54 to somewhat break an MNU 10-2 run.

As MNU would cut the game to a three-point deficit, Clarke would hit enough free throws to hang on and win by that five-point margin, a five-point lead that CU would hold at the end of three of the four quarters in the game.

McDermott would finish with a game-high in points and rebounds at 19 points and 13 rebounds for her second-straight double-double while adding three steals, two assists, and a blocked shot. Both Merschman and Norris were the other two members of the Pride in double figures as Merschman added 16 and Norris produced 12 off the bench.

Jordynn Gonzalez and Aubrey Rogers were the only players in double figures for MNU as Gonzalez led the Pioneers with 15 points on 5-of-12 (41.6%) shooting from the field and Rogers added 11 points in 30 minutes off the bench.

Clarke women's basketball will get back home next Wednesday when they host Culver-Stockton College at the Kehl Center on Jan. 31 for a 5:30 p.m. CT tip against the Wildcats to close out January.