Contact: Emily Adlfinger, Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7970

Dec. 29, 2019 – Recording its third 30-point margin of victory in as many games, the No. 23-ranked Loras College women's basketball team (10-1, 2-1 A-R-C) scored a 97-67 win against a tenacious North Park University (8-2) team on Sunday evening to open the Loras Holiday Tournament.

North Park owned the early lead to open the game after a three-pointer from Emily Czuhajewski put the Vikings ahead 8-4 with 7:00 to play in the first quarter. It was the only lead the Vikings would have for the remainder of the contest after Marissa Schroeder's layup sparked an opening for Lydia Breunig and Cierra Bachmann to score and put Loras ahead 13-8. Macenzie Kraemer's layup in the final minute of the first quarter gave Loras a 20-13 lead after the first ten minutes of play.

Loras started the second quarter with two free throws from Riley Eckhart and a layup from Fitzpatrick in the first minute for its first double-digit lead of the game. With 5:42 left in the half, the Duhawks doubled up the Vikings with a 32-16 lead after Madison Fleckenstein grabbed the rebound off a missed shot by Zakiya Newsome and found Schroeder down court for the fast break layup. North Park rallied back with a two-minute run to cut the score 36-30 with 2:11 left in the half, but eight points from the Duhawks gave Loras the 44-13 advantage going into the locker room.

North Park was not going down without a fight and held the third quarter close, scoring 20 points, but the Duhawks posted 25 points to take a 69-51 lead going into the final ten minutes. Ashley Funk led the Duhawks in the fourth quarter with 12 of her 15 points on the night, helping Loras pull away and advance to the championship game of the tournament with the 97-67 win.

Funk scored 15 points off the bench for the Duhawks, shooting 6-6 from the field and coming away with two steals while Fitzpatrick also had 15 points and added seven rebounds. Rounding out the starting, five, Schroeder, Schnoor and Kraemer all scored double-digit points and combined for 13 rebounds.  

The Duhawks return to Lillis Court on Monday to face the University of Wisconsin-Platteville in the championship game of the Loras Christmas Classic at 4 P.M. The Vikings will play in the consolation game against Lawrence University at 2 P.M.