Central pulls away from women’s basketball win in Missouri
ST. LOUIS, MO.—Getting points from 11 players, the Central College women’s basketball team secured its third road win 64-41 at Fontbonne University (Mo.) Saturday.
Guard Abby Johnson (junior, Ankeny) had 11 points and freshman point guard Emily Naughton (Indianola) added 10 to lead a balanced attack. The Dutch (3-2) got seven rebounds from center Allison Van Gorp (junior, Pella, Pella Christian HS), six from Naughton and five from Johnson while Johnson passed out four assists.
Central shot a sizzling 58.5% from the floor and outrebounded Fontbonne (0-4) 35-27 while limiting the Griffins to just 22.6% shooting.
After leading just 15-12 heading into the second quarter, the Dutch steadily pulled away, stretching the advantage to 28-20 at intermission.
“It took us a little bit to get into the game on both ends, offensively and defensively,” coach Justin Weiland said. “We turned the ball over way too much in the first half (12 times). But our second half was fantastic. We only had three turnovers in the second half. That’s amazing. It was a very clean half. And we shot 15-for-24 in the second half, so we were very efficient.”
Weiland emptied the bench as no Central player was on the floor for more than 23 minutes, which should help keep legs fresh for Sunday’s game at Webster University (Mo.) in St. Louis. The Dutch reserves contributed 29 points.
“That was what I was hoping for,” Weiland said. “We used our bench early in the first and second quarters, just in case it was tight in the second half but we came out and kept extending the lead. That just shows the type of depth that we have.”
The schedule takes a nasty turn Sunday in tackling undefeated Webster at 1 p.m. The Gorloks are 4-0 after subduing Augustana College (Ill.) Saturday 56-45. Central and Webster last met in 2016 and the Gorloks hold a 2-1 advantage in the series.
Weiland expects to face an aggressive full-court press and relentless inside attack.
“It’s going to come down to taking care of the ball against their press,” he said. “If we can do that, like we did today, we’ll have a great chance. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”
