Dubuque slips past Central women’s basketball squad
PELLA-A big third quarter gave the Central College women’s basketball team a chance, but the University of Dubuque squeaked by the Dutch 53-52 Sunday afternoon.
After a Spartan (10-6 overall, 4-3 American Rivers Conference) fast break layup put Central (8-8, 2-5 conference) in a 33-24 hole with 7 minutes and 24 seconds left to play in the third quarter, the Dutch put together a 15-6 run to end the quarter and take a 39-38 lead.
Central led for most of the fourth quarter until a three-pointer by Dubuque put them in front 53-52 with 2:01 left in the contest. Neither team was able to score from that point, including three missed shot attempts by Central.
“We just got in the fight too late,” coach Justin Weiland said. “Dubuque really mucks the game up playing that three-quarter court zone press. It just eats up the shot clock. It’s tough but we still had a chance. Samantha Scott (junior, Davenport, North Scott HS) had a great look at the end and I thought it was good from where I was.”
The Dutch bench contributed 25 points, highlighted by 11 on 5-5 shooting from CeCe Moore (freshman, Waterloo, West HS). Hannah Dau (junior, Paulina, South O’Brien HS) and Jasmyn Williams (sophomore, Denver, Colo., Arvada West HS) had eight and six, respectively.
“We want to have a lot of points coming off our bench,” Weiland said. “It really was our entire bench that got us back into the game. They played the last six minutes or so of the third quarter and we got them in there pretty quickly in the fourth quarter, too.”
“When teams switch on screens like that, CeCe’s one of our best slippers. We were finding her and she finishing around the rim.”
Dubuque took advantage of the free throw strip as it made nine of 20 attempts as opposed to just three attempts for Central.
“Our defense was okay in the first half, we just let them get to the free throw line too many times,” Weiland said. “In the second half, our defense was pretty good we just made some timely mistakes. We let them go baseline a few times and they got to the free throw line seven or eight more times.”
With 12 points and 17 rebounds, center Allison Van Gorp (junior, Pella, Pella Christian HS) notched her seventh double-double of the season and 19th of her career.
“She was a monster on the glass,” Weiland said.
Van Gorp was the rebounding leader for a Dutch team that outrebounded Dubuque 52-36. Scott added seven and Kaitlyn Mumm (freshman, Des Moines, Christian HS) contributed six.
Wednesday the Dutch take on Luther College in a women’s-men’s doubleheader starting at 5:30 p.m. at Decorah. The Norse, who last played Wednesday, are 8-8 overall and 3-4 on conference action.
