Brown puts up 23 in Central women’s basketball loss
Central Dutch Athletics
CEDAR RAPIDS—Forward Kendall Brown (senior, Moravia) continued a banner senior season with 23 points but a lack of long-range production resulted in a 71-61 Central College women’s basketball loss at Coe College Saturday.
That snapped a three-game Dutch win streak. Brown hit 10 of 14 shots from the floor and is hitting 65.8% for the year, ranking third in the NCAA Division III heading into the game. But the Dutch (11-7 overall, 3-6 American Rivers) shot just 40.0% overall, including an icy 20.0% from 3-point range on 4-of-20 shooting.
“Kendall Brown again had a great night,” Steinkamp said. “We did a really good job of getting her the ball and she did a great job inside when she got it. But they hit some timely threes to slow some of our runs and we didn’t knock down enough threes. We thought we got some good looks throughout the game but had a lot of shots that went in and out. We just weren’t quite good enough.”
Guard Kelsea Hurley (freshman, Scottsdale, Ariz., Desert Mountain HS) added 13 points despite hitting just 1-of-8 from 3-point range and had seven rebounds, matching forward Payton Rogers (junior, Moravia) Payton Rogers (junior, Moravia) for the team high on the boards. The Dutch held a 37-36 rebounding advantage.
Coe (11-7 overall, 6-3 conference) shot 43.3%, including 33.3% from the 3-point line.
“I thought it was an evenly matched game for most of the day,” Steinkamp said. “There was just a stretch in the third quarter where we didn’t make shots and turned the ball over too much. That led to some runouts and plays where we weren’t able to set up our half-court defense.”
Central committed 22 turnovers that led to 27 Kohawk points.
Central is home Wednesday for a rematch with No. 12 Loras College in a women’s-men’s doubleheader tipping off at 6 p.m. at P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium. The Duhawks were knocked into a tie for the league lead with a 76-66 home-court loss to Luther College Saturday, slipping to 16-2 overall and 7-2 in the conference. Loras outscored Central at Pella 88-72 Nov. 26.
Wednesday’s contest will be followed by a trip to No. 7 Wartburg College Saturday.
“It will be a quick turnaround to play two ranked teams and we’ll have to have a great week of practice to get ready to go,” Steinkamp said.
A video webcast and live stats of Wednesday’s action will be available through the Central athletics website at athletics.central.edu or directly at portal.stretchinternet.com/Central/. The game audio will also be available via www.kniakrls.com with Jon Mohwinkle calling the action.
