Dutch fall to Augustana in women’s basketball game

Central College

PELLA — Despite a subpar shooting night, Sophomore forward Claire Marburger (Perry) scored 25 points and collected nine rebounds in the Central College 81-59 loss to Augustana College (Ill.) Saturday.

Central (7-2) opened the game fast scoring the first four points. The Vikings took the lead with 2:07 remaining in the first quarter and never surrendered the lead.

“With five minutes to go in the game, it was a 10-point game and we just need to do a better job of finishing the game,” said coach Chelsea Petersen. “There were parts of the game where we executed our gameplan and then there were other times where we didn’t.”

Marburger started the night 5-for-21 shooting but finished 10-of-27 from the floor. Junior guard Emily Dine (Oldsmar, Fla., East Lake) added 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field, guard Alison Malaby (junior, Mechanicsville, North Cedar HS) had nine points and four rebounds and forward Jackie Kriegel (junior, Marengo, Iowa Valley HS) had six points and seven rebounds.

“Alison Malaby played some great minutes today defensively,” said Petersen. “Jackie Kriegel was tremendous from an energy perspective. She did a great job guarding their 6-foot 5 post player.”

Central shot 36.7% from the field while the Vikings connected on 44.6% of their field goals. Augustana controlled the rebounding total 40-33 and forced 22 Central turnovers.

The Dutch take a break for the holidays before returning to action in P.H. Kuyper Gym December 28 against Monmouth College (Ill.) at 2 p.m. Monmouth (1-7) defeated Central 81-48 January 2, 2013. The Fighting Scots finished 20-5 that season.

“Really feel like our players can use this break as a time to refocus and come back ready to play,” said Petersen. “Our staff will prepare over the break for Monmouth.”