DUBUQUE, Iowa (Duhawks.com) - The Loras College women's basketball team struggled to find any offensive rhythm on Wednesday night, as they fell to crosstown rival, University of Dubuque by a score of 57-54. The Duhawks were led by senior Victoria May, who totaled 15 points and five rebounds, as well as senior Carly Goede, who finished with 14 points.
 
The Spartans started off the ballgame on a hot start, scoring the first seven points of the contest. The Duhawks struggled from the field in the first half, shooting 30 percent from the floor and 22 percent from 3-point range. The Loras defense would keep them in the game, forcing nine Spartan turnovers in the first 20 minutes. Head coach Justin Heinzen looked for a spark out of his bench, which resulted in him going seven deep in the opening half.
 
Loras showed its resiliency to start the second half, coming out of the halftime break converting five of their first seven field goal attempts. May's fastbreak layup with 15:23 left tied the ballgame at 33, erasing Dubuque's 29-23 first half lead.
 
Minutes later, Goede gave her team the lead, dropping in a layup and 3-pointer in a span of 22 seconds to put Loras ahead by five with 12:24 on the clock.
 
After going back and forth much of the second half, the Spartans regained the lead when Brittany Collier drained a 3-pointer with 2:04 to play to give her team the 53-52 advantage.
 
Collier added two huge insurance points her next time down the court via layup to increase the Spartans' lead to three.
 
Junior Kaitlin Phillips converted both of her attempts from the free-throw line to cut the Dubuque lead to just one with 55 seconds remaining. After two missed free-throws by Collier, Kaitlin Phillips turned the ball over, which forced Loras to foul and send Meggie Schmidt to the line where she made both of her free-throws.
 
With 11 seconds left, the inbound pass from junior Kaitlin Phillips sailed over the head of Goede and sophomore Kat Cabrera's final shot fell short.
 
Game Changer
Loras had a five-point lead with four minutes to go in the second half, but after back-to-back missed 3-pointers by freshman Megan Jones, the Spartans grabbed the lead thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers by Brittany Collier.
 
Key Stat
Dubuque outshot Loras in each of the main shooting categories (field goal percentage, 3-point percentage and free-throw percentage)
 
Notables

 
Up Next
The loss moves the Duhawks to 9-7 overall and 3-2 in the Iowa Conference. The team will be back in action this Saturday as they head to Decorah to take on Luther College. The Norse come into the game, losing an overtime battle at Simpson College. They boast a 14-2 overall record, and 4-1 mark in the Iowa Conference.