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

Feb. 3, 2021 – In a historically high-energy battle between cross-town rivals and American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) foes, the Loras College women's basketball team (2-3, 0-2 A-R-C) met a tough match-up against the University of Dubuque (4-4-, 3-1 A-R-C) at Lillis Court on Wednesday, falling to the Spartans, 69-61. 

The Spartans took control of the game early off an 8-0 run to start the game, but the Duhawks responded with eight of their own after layups by Allie Brownson and Cierra Bachmann and a pair of free throws by Ashley Funk brought the Duhawks within two points of Dubuque with under a minute in the quarter. The Spartans came back with a layup but Funk sunk two more free-throws to keep the gap at two points to close out the first ten minutes of play.

On the opening possession of the second quarter, Bachmann found Sami Martin in the lane for the layup to tie the score, but the Spartans rallied back to take the lead with a pair of three-pointers. Martin added two more layups to bring the Duhawks back within two with 6:33 left in the half. Dubuque's 4-6 shooting from beyond the arc extended the lead 36-26 with under a minute remaining, but the Duhawks closed out the half with another layup by Martin and a three-point play for Bachmann to trail 36-31.

Dubuque continued to try and pull away to start the second half, but Lydia Breunig reignited the spark, capping off an eight-point run with a three-pointer to bring Loras within one point, 43-42. The Spartans did not let the momentum last long, regaining a six-point advantage, but Bachmann tacked on four more points to come back within one point, 48-47, going into the fourth quarter. A pair of free-throws by Funk and a three pointer from Madison Haslow helped the Duhawks bring the momentum from the previous quarter into the final stretch of the game, cutting the Spartans' lead 54-52 with 7:12 left to play. Both teams battled to keep the other off the board for nearly three minutes before the Spartans took a four-point lead, but Haslow again erased the deficit with a three-pointer off the assist from Megan Murray to close in on the Spartans, 57-56. The Spartans found the spark in the final two minutes to pull ahead 67-58 and despite a three-pointer in the final 15 seconds from Sydney Schuler, the Duhawks could not overcome the gap, falling 69-61.

Bachmann led the Duhawks with 17 points and four assists while Martin posted her second-straight double-digit performance with 15 points. She and Funk both grabbed six rebounds and the team caused the Spartans to turn the ball over 30 times.

The Duhawks travel to Lincoln, Neb. on Saturday, Feb. 6 for their next A-R-C matchup. Tip-off in Lincoln, Neb. is set for 4 P.M.