Central scores women’s basketball weekend sweep
MILWAUKEE, WIS.—The games were 23 hours apart but there was little difference in the outcome as the Central College women’s basketball team notched its second straight double-digit win over Mount Mary University (Wis.) Sunday.
A 70-39 victory Sunday punctuated a 71-47 win over the Blue Angels Saturday. The biggest difference was a faster start, as the Dutch (7-3) took command early, going up 23-10 after one quarter and 45-17 at intermission.
Freshman guard Carson Fisk (Searsboro, Lynnville-Sully HS) topped a balanced scoring chart with 12 points while guard Maci Gambell (sophomore, Hedrick, Pekin HS) had 10 points and five rebounds. Forward Kendall Brown (senior, Moravia) had four blocks.
“Carson Fisk had another nice game,” coach Joe Steinkamp said. “She attacked the rim and was good in transition.
“Maci Gambell showed her all-around game. It’s good to get her going. And it’s good to see different people stepping up. We don’t need to have the same one or two players to score. We’ve got a lot of players to fill in the holes on any given night.”
After hitting 56.3% from the field in the first quarter, the Central shooting touch cooled and finished at 38.6% to Mount Mary’s 27.3%. The Dutch forced 24 turnovers and held a 44-33 rebounding advantage.
“We got off to a really good start,” Steinkamp said. “We picked up the pressure and fed off of that. We got a lot of easy baskets in transition and we shot better from the perimeter. We had 10 3-pointers and no one player had more than two.”
Steinkamp was able to empty the bench, with no player seeing more than 22 minutes of action.
“Everyone got extended minutes,” Steinkamp said. “It was a good weekend. We got to spend a lot of time together and do some team activities.”
With seven victories, Central has already matched its season win total for its first two seasons under Steinkamp. The Dutch haven’t topped the 10-win mark since 2013-14.
“This is just the beginning,” he said. “We’re continuing to get better. We’re young but we have some veteran leadership. We’ve got some high goals we hope to reach yet.”
Central takes a break for fall semester exams and the Christmas holiday before returning to action Dec. 30 with its final non-conference game of the season, taking on Fontbonne University (Mo.) at Pella. The Griffins are 3-4 with two games next week before the break. The teams last met in 2015 and Central holds a 3-0 lead in the series.
“We’re excited to have the next couple of weeks to practice,” Steinkamp said. “We’ll use this time to get better. We’ve played so many games in a short span that we’ve had to spend most of our time on game prep. It will be good to have some solid practice time.”
