Feb. 18, 2023 – No. 24 Loras College women's basketball defended its home court with a 63-55 win on Saturday afternoon and played spoiler on a potential undefeated season in American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) play for No. 20 Wartburg College.

The Duhawks (21-4, 14-2 A-R-C) fell to the Knights (20-5, 15-1 A-R-C) back on Jan. 18 in Waverly, which had huge implications in determining this season's conference championship. Loras got even with Wartburg on Saturday afternoon as the two sides will enter the A-R-C tournament as the top two seeds, each having beaten the other on their respective home courts.

Loras and Wartburg both rank inside the top three in the A-R-C in scoring, but neither side really found a groove to open the game. The Duhawks trailed 7-6 early on but held the Knights scoreless in the final five minutes of the opening frame to lead 12-7 heading to the second.

With the Knights closing in on the lead, sophomore guard Silvana Scarsella threaded the needle with a tough pass to sophomore guard Daniella Jarrell. Jarrell finished the open layup to make it 18-15 Duhawks and start an 8-0 for Loras.

That run had the Duhawks feeling good as the half approached, but a floating three-pointer from Wartburg's Macy Harris beat the halftime buzzer and kept the Knights in it with a halftime score of 26-21 in favor of Loras.

 Senior guard Madison Fleckenstein opened the half with a corner three to get things started right for the Duhawks. The lead grew to 11 points with five minutes to play in the quarter, but Wartburg wouldn't go away. On their final two possessions of the quarter, the Knights sprung Britney Young open for a pair of three-pointers that quickly shrunk the lead back down to just three before the start of the fourth quarter.

Young connected on yet another three-pointer to start the fourth quarter and pulled the Knights even at 42-42. Despite that swing in momentum, the Knights wouldn't connect on another field goal for nearly six and a half minutes when Young would make her fourth three-pointer of the game.

Between those baskets for Young, the Duhawks outscored the Knights 13-3 and got buckets from four different players to pull away and seal the deal on another victory over a ranked opponent.

Junior guard Sami Martin contributed at both ends of the floor as she tallied a 13-point, 14-rebound double-double. She was one of three Duhawks to score in double figures, along with Fleckenstein with 16 and senior guard Cierra Bachmann, who led all scorers with 18.

This game didn't impact seeding for the upcoming A-R-C tournament, but it did provide a potential sneak-peak at the tournament championship game. Should both teams win their semifinal-round matchups on Thursday, Feb. 23, the two would meet at Wartburg for the tournament title on Saturday, Feb. 25

Loras will host the highest-remaining seed from Tuesday's quarterfinal action on Thursday, Feb. 23, at the Lillis Athletic and Wellness Center.