Contact: Mark Johnson, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7243
LINCOLN, Neb. (Feb. 22, 2020) – Junior Marissa Schroeder finished with a double-double and a career-high 33 points to help the No. 10 Loras College women's basketball team (22-3, 13-3 A-R-C) tie its program-best regular-season win total after defeating American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) opponent Nebraska Wesleyan University (7-17, 3-13 A-R-C) by a final score of 79-58.
The Duhawks started hot scoring the first eight points of the game before Nebraska Wesleyan answered with a three-point basket of its own. The Duhawks cooled off in the following minutes as the Prairie Wolves cut the Duhawks lead to just two points with 4:35 remaining in the quarter. Nebraska Wesleyan then capitalized on a Loras' turnover to take a one-point lead making the score 13-12 with just under four minutes remaining. Macenzie Kraemer eventually regained the lead for the Duhawks but the Prairie Wolves stole it right back and jumped ahead 20-15 with 1:21 remaining. Schroeder cut Nebraska Wesleyan's lead to just one-point making the score 20-19 at the end of the first quarter.
Schroeder started the second quarter off with a bang for the Duhawks by draining a three-point basket to take away the lead from the Prairie Wolves. However, the back-and-forth continued as Nebraska Wesleyan once again pulled ahead but Schroeder came up big for the Duhawks with a layup drawing a foul and knocking down the free-throw giving Loras a two-point lead. Schroeder was responsible for 10 of the Duhawks' 14 points in the second quarter as both teams head into the locker room tied 33-33.
The Duhawks jumped out to an impressive 12-point lead just over halfway through the third quarter after a handful of baskets from Madison Haslow, Schroeder and Kraemer. Loras kept the pressure on the Prairie Wolves as Madison Fleckenstein extended the lead to 14 points with just under three minutes remaining in the third quarter but Kari Fitzpatrick quickly added a three-point basket of her own to extend the lead to 17 points. It was not just the offense that was clicking for the Duhawks in the third quarter as Schroeder came up with a big steal and pass to Haslow for the fastbreak layup to extend Loras's lead to 19 points. In the third quarter, the Duhawks shot an impressive 84.62% from the field, 66.7% from beyond the arc and went perfect from the free-throw line. This incredible shooting performance allowed the Duhawks to build a 60-45 lead at the end of the third quarter.
The Duhawks continued to dominate on both sides of the court as they pulled ahead by as much as 22 points after a pair of free throws from Haslow. Loras finished the game shooting 50% from the field 33.3% from beyond the arc while shooting an impressive 20-22 from the free-throw line. Haslow and Maeysn Benjamin scored the final points of the game after back-to-back layups securing the twenty-second win for the Duhawks with a final score of 79-58.
Schroeder led the Duhawks in scoring with a career-high 33 points shooting an incredible 13-13 from the free-throw line while also securing the double-double by grabbing a team-high 11 rebounds. Haslow also scored her career-high with 16 points while Kraemer had nine points and a team-high six assists.
After Saturday's road win the Duhawks have solidified themselves as the No. 2 seed in the A-R-C tournament and have secured a first-round bye and will play at home Thursday, Feb. 27. Game time and opponent will be solidified after the first round of the tournament which takes place on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
