DUBUQUE, Iowa (Duhawks.com) - Seniors Victoria May and Carly Goede fueled the Loras College Women's Basketball team to an Iowa Conference win over the Central Dutch in the Athletic & Wellness Center on Saturday. Goede's hot shooting and stellar court vision paced the Duhawks to a halftime lead before May finished off the Dutch in the second half, giving Loras the 72-65 victory.

Aware of the potential damage Central's (9-6, 0-4) Kenzie Vander Molen could cause the Duhawks (9-6, 3-1) took the court with a game plan of limiting her touches and using their balanced offense to down the Dutch. 

In the first half, the game went as planned as Loras limited Vander Molen to three shots and just two points in the opening 20 minutes.

With the Central defense taking their time to get into position, Goede skipped a pass across the baseline and hit freshman Miranda Chapman in the corner. The Mt. Vernon standout released a quick shot from beyond the arc, putting Loras in front by four with 15:38 to play in the half.

At the 12:10 mark, freshman Megan Jones collected a rebound off a missed layup by Madeline Simmons and finished off the next possession by dishing to junior Kaitlin Phillips who drained the three-ball to put Loras ahead by three.

The shot from beyond the arc proved pivotal for the Duhawks, sparking a 16-4 Loras run. The scoring frenzy was capped by a sound possession by Loras in which sophomore Kathleen Cabrera whipped a pass to Jones in the lane. Jones corralled the pass and in one motion tipped it down to sophomore Terese McMahon on the block who finished the play at the rim. McMahon's play gave the Duhawks a 32-20 edge with just over five minutes to play in the half. 

In remaining minutes of the half, the Dutch attempted to chip away at Loras' advantage but failed to break the double-digit deficit. Freshman Lauren Stanich's 3-pointer late in the half extended the Duhawks' lead to 17 before, heading into the break in front 41-28.

Kaitlin Phillips forced the Dutch into a turnover six minutes into the second half and was fouled in the process of going coast-to-coast, earning a trip to the charity stripe. Knocking down the shots from the line, Phillips gave the Duhawks their largest lead of the game, 53-34 with 14:12 to play.

At that point, Vander Molen heated up and the Duhawks struggled to handle the defensive pressure of the Dutch. Over the next six minutes, Central used 13 unanswered points to pull within six with 8:09 to play.

Fortunately for the Duhawks that was as close as they would get as May took over in the paint, scoring seven of her team-high 15 points in the final five minutes. Central's last ditch effort at a comeback sent Kaitlin Phillips to the line six times in the final 35 seconds but, the Duhawk captain knocked them down to close out the game 72-65.

With the win the Duhawks improved the 9-6 on the season and 3-1 in Iowa Conference play.