Late Coe flurry costs Central women’s basketball team
CEDAR RAPIDS-A 13-0 finishing kick let Coe College escape the Central College women’s basketball team again, 69-55 Saturday.
The Dutch (9-11 overall, 3-8 American Rivers) were edged at home by Coe 65-63 Dec. 9. But they threw another scare into the Kohawks (16-4 overall, 7-4 conference). Trailing by as many as nine in the first quarter and 38-32 at intermission, Central was still down 44-35 with 4 minutes left in the third quarter. But the Dutch used an 8-0 run to climb back in the game and grabbed a 53-51 lead on an Abby Johnson (junior, Ankeny) bucket with 5:18 left in the game. After a pair of Coe buckets, center CeCe Moore (freshman, Waterloo, West HS) scored to keep Central within 56-55 with 3:49 left.
“We have some great resiliency and fight in our team,” coach Justin Weiland said. “We were taking much better shots, we were finishing through contact, we were getting ourselves second-chance opportunities. And we really started to lock in way better on the defensive end.
But it was all Coe the rest of the way.
“I think for us the biggest thing was we missed a few too many shots around the rim and we made a couple of turnovers in that stretch,” Weiland said. “And then I think the ball not going in on the offensive end kind of deflated us a bit on the defensive end. But you’ve got to give Coe credit, they’re playing good basketball.”
Freshman forward Kaitlyn Mumm (Des Moines, Christian HS) popped in a career-best 16 points. Mumm, who had cracked double figures just once previously, connected on six of eight shots and also had five rebounds.
“I think we saw flashes of what she’s going to be capable of moving forward,” Weiland said. “She has to be aggressive on the offensive end because she’s a mismatch nightmare. It was nice to see her come out and do that.”
Guards Johnson and Emily Naughton (freshman, Indianola) each had nine points.
Central was outshot 47.2% to 34.4% but held a 35-33 rebounding edge. Moore had 10 rebounds while center Allison Van Gorp (junior, Pella, Pella Christian HS) had seven boards.
Wednesday Central plays host to Buena Vista University in a women’s-men’s doubleheader starting at 6 p.m. at P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium. The Dutch defeated Buena Vista at Storm Lake Nov. 29 88-70. The Beavers are 2-15 overall and 1-9 in the conference after getting bounced 76-44 at Luther College Saturday. A video webcast and live stats for Wednesday’s games can be accessed at athletics.central.edu.
