24 for Johnson but a Central women’s basketball road loss
DUBUQUE-Guard Abby Johnson (junior, Ankeny) pumped in 24 points and center Allison Van Gorp (junior, Pella, Pella Christian HS) recorded her 19th career double-double but the Central College women’s basketball team suffered through an otherwise chilly shooting performance in a 64-57 loss at the University of Dubuque Saturday.
Johnson was 10-of-18 from the floor and knocked down four 3-point goals while grabbing six rebounds and coming up with two steals. Van Gorp hit seven of 10 shots from the field for 14 points to go with 12 rebounds for her ninth double-double of the season. But the Dutch (10-13 overall, 4-10 American Rivers) shot just 36.5% from the field overall while Dubuque shot 44.4%.
Dubuque’s 33-19 halftime lead was its largest of the game as Central was 0-for-12 from 3-point range in the first half.
“That’s just not like us,” coach Justin Weiland said. “I told the players at halftime, every single one of those threes was a great look. They just weren’t falling.”
But Central kept the Spartans (15-8 overall, 9-5 conference) within striking distance in the second half. The Dutch held a 22-14 advantage in a productive third quarter to make it 47-41, and a Van Gorp bucket to start the fourth period cut the lead to 47-43.
“We dug in on defense and we hit four of our five threes in that third quarter,” Weiland said. “And I thought we did a good job of getting the ball into the paint, because they couldn’t stop us inside. We just didn’t look at that in the second quarter.”
But Central could draw no closer. Dubuque shot 55.6% from the field in the fourth quarter.
“We just finding ways to kind of hurt ourselves at times,” Weiland said. “We’ll go on these nice runs but then we’ll relax, or thrown a silly, undisciplined pass and then they go down and score. It takes all the momentum and swings it the other way.”
Central held a 38-33 rebounding edge and came up with 12 steals.
Weiland liked what he saw from Johnson.
“Obviously, to score 24 and shoot really efficiently from the floor again is huge for us,” he said. “That’s what she’s out there to do. We’re finding her and it’s not like she’s out there forcing shots. She’s taking the right ones with the offense.”
And he thought Van Gorp could have had an even more productive outing with more post touches.
“I was a little disappointed we didn’t get her the ball more in the first half,” Weiland said. “When she’s super aggressive it just adds another dimension to our team because teams are going to have to double her and that’s when we get great looks for our shooters.”
Central plays its final regular-season road game Wednesday, traveling to Lincoln, Nebraska for a women’s-men’s doubleheader at Nebraska Wesleyan University with the women’s game starting at 5:30 p.m. Nebraska Wesleyan is 0-19 overall and 0-14 in the conference after dropping a 70-53 decision to Coe College at home Saturday. Central raced past the Prairie Wolves 71-37 at Pella Jan. 10.
It’s one of two games left on the Central schedule, with a home game following next Saturday against Luther College. The Dutch need wins in both to qualify for the six-team conference tourney.
“We need to go handle our business at Nebraska Wesleyan and get ready for an absolute cage match on Saturday,” Weiland said. “You win and you’re in.”
