Coe holds off Central women’s basketball squad
Central College
PELLA —An 8-2 Coe College flurry to close the end of the first half dimmed Central College’s hopes for a women’s basketball upset and the Dutch were on the wrong end of a 62-52 final Saturday.
After leading by six at the break Coe (12-5 overall, 5-1 Iowa Conference) stretched its lead out to as many as 17 in the second half before the Dutch (9-8, 0-6) made a run. Trailing 56-39 with 5:27 to go Central went on a 10-2 run to pull within nine, 58-49, with 2:30 to play. Coe was able to neutralize the Dutch rally and hold on for the 10-point victory.
“Coming out in the second half we missed some opportunities,” said coach Chelsea Petersen. “For the first 15 minutes of the second half we weren’t executing offensively, but we were executing defensively. Coe is a very solid basketball team you have to play well for 40 minutes against them.”
Central guard Mariah Swartzentruber (sophomore, Kalona, Mid-Prairie HS) hit four 3-pointers to run her season total to 44, moving into a tie for fourth place on Central’s single season leaderboard. She finished the game with 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
“Mariah rebounded nicely from Wednesday night’s game,” said Petersen. “She kind of struggled shooting the ball in our last game, but had a much better performance today. She hit some shots offensively and I felt like she played a great defensive game as well.”
Guard Kenzie Vander Molen (senior, Pella) was Central’s leading scorer on the day with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
“Kenzie Vander Molen did an exceptional job today,” said Petersen. “She was tough to guard. Kenzie did a great job leading the team today and she played with a tremendous amount of heart and purpose.”
Coe entered the game with the sixth best field goal percentage in Division III play (45.9) and the third best percentage from beyond the arc (39.6). They were 24-for-52 (46.2 percent) from the field and 11-for-29 (37.9 percent) from beyond the arc Saturday. Mickey Hansche led the Kohawks with 24 points coming off of eight 3-pointers. Central was 19-for-55 from the field (34.5 percent) and 8-for-25 (32 percent) from three-point land.
The Dutch got off to a quick start, opening the game on a 7-0 run before the Kohawks responded with a 17-4 run to take a 17-11 lead.
“We allowed Coe to get back into it because we didn’t box out and they got offensive rebounds,” said Petersen.
The Kohawks had seven offensive rebounds in the first half, but only two after halftime. Petersen said forward Madeline Simmons (freshman, Elkhorn, Neb., South HS) played a key role in the Dutch cleaning up their play on the defensive glass.
“She played really solid and really poised,” said Petersen. “She did a great job getting box outs in that first half. When she went in we had been struggling, but she started doing a nice job boxing out and the rest of the team followed suit.”
The improved rebounding allowed Central to tie things up at 24 before the Kohawks used the run at the end of the first half to lead by six at the break.
“I feel like we came out and played hard in the first half and executed well,” said Petersen.
Coe outscored Central by just four in the second half to earn the 10-point victory and remain tied for first place in the conference standings.
The Dutch will travel in Indianola to take on Simpson (13-3, 3-2) Wednesday at 6 p.m.
“Going into next week we have to have more players produce for the minutes they play,” said Petersen. “We had two players in double digits today. In the game of basketball you want three double digit scorers every night minimum.”
