Schwartz’s 21 boosts Central women’s basketball team

Central College

PELLA—Guard Alyssa Schwartz (senior, Titonka, WCLT HS) struck for a game-high 21 points as the Central College women’s basketball team handed the College of St. Scholastica (Minn.) a 70-63 defeat Friday.

Central improved to 7-3, matching last year’s season wins totals, and posted its fourth straight victory.

After trading points in the opening minutes, St. Scholastica (3-7) took its only lead of the game at the 12:51 mark, 9-8. The Dutch made a 9-2 run to go up six points before closing the half with an 8-3 burst for 36-26 advantage. Central ran off 10 unanswered points for a 53-34 edge with 14:20 remaining and led by as many as 22 points.

“We got some key offensive rebounds that allowed us to string together a couple runs,” coach Mike Jacobsma said. “We wore them out and executed our offensive and finished layups when we had opportunities.”

The Dutch shot 43.6 percent from the floor to St. Scholastica’s 38.2 percent and outrebounded the Saints 44-35. Schwartz knocked down 9 of 12 shots, including three from long range to match her season best on Nov. 20.

“Alyssa had a breakout game for us offensively,” coach Mike Jacobsma said. “We’ve been telling her all year to keep shooting and tonight they went in.”

Forward Nicole Strasko (senior, Roland, Roland-Story HS) notched her fifth career double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Guard Kalli Richardson (sophomore, Blairsburg, Northeast Hamilton HS) had 11 points with three steals and forward Jessy Stika (junior, Crescor, Crestwood HS) had eight rebounds. Richardson and Strasko each passed out four assists.

All 16 players entered the game as Jacobsma emptied the bench in the second half.

Central travels to Monmouth, Ill., Jan. 2 to face Monmouth College (10-1) in its final tune-up before Iowa Conference action. The contest is set to begin at 4 p.m.

“We’ve got a lot of momentum going our way and we need to keep it that way heading into league play,” Jacobsma said.