Pride run away from College of the Ozarks in NAIA Tournament 1st Round
DUBUQUE, Iowa - Playing their first game in 13 days, the Clarke University women's basketball team opened their 2024 NAIA Tournament journey with a first round win over College of the Ozarks by a final score of 80-61 in the Kehl Center on Friday evening.
The two teams showed a bit of rust from both not playing since the Mar. 2-3 weekend as they finished the first quarter at a 11-10 CU lead, combining to shoot 8-for-29 (27.6%) before both teams found more of a rhythm to finish the first half scoring 20 or more points in the second quarter for the Pride to enter halftime up 35-30.
A third quarter that finished 18-9 in favor of Clarke would being the Pride's climb to extend their lead as it would get to 23 points at its largest at 23 points with just over a minute remaining in the game at 78-55.
Clarke's third quarter was powered by their bench duo of Taylor Norris and Madison Lindauer as they combined for 11 of the 18 points in the period with Norris hitting two three pointers and Lindauer hitting one of her own and a pair of free throws before Mya Merschman would take over in the fourth, scoring 11 of her team-high 23 points in the final period as she also led the team with nine rebounds.
Norris and Lindauer would finish the game with 14 and 10 points respectively, both going 2-for-6 from three point range as Lindauer grabbed six rebounds and the final member of the Pride in double figures was Taylor Haase, who finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.
Though they finished with lower point totals than they're accustomed to, both Nicole McDermott and Maci Kuchta filled up the stat sheet as McDermott finished with nine points, five rebounds, five assists, and two steals while Kuchta had three points, six rebounds, five assists, a steal, and a blocked shot.
For the Bobcats, Susanna Moran led all players with her 24-point, 15-rebound double-double as she finished 8-of-16 (50%) from the field and 8-for-13 (61.5%) from the free throw line as Kayley Frank was the only other member of CofO to finish in double figures with 17 puts but shot 5-for-15 (33.3%) to get her 17 points.
Clarke women's basketball will be right back in action on Saturday for the second round of the NAIA Tournament when they face off against Duer Quadrant No. 7 seed Dakota Wesleyan University for a 5:30 p.m. CT tip in the Kehl Center with a trip to Sioux City on the line.