Coe (8-17 overall, 6-10 conference) moves on as the No. 6 seed in the league tournament which begins Tuesday.
Central (6-19 overall, 4-12 conference) got 21 points from guard Laura Porter and a career-best 16 rebounds from senior guard Aimee Schmidt in her final collegiate game, but victory hopes were again stifled by cold shooting and the stellar play of Coe’s Amber Karkosh, who came up huge with 26 points and 17 rebounds. The Dutch connected on just 30 percent from the field, including 25 percent (2-of-8) in the overtime.
Nonetheless, Central nearly scrapped its way to a win. Down 50-42 with just 4:38 left, the Dutch reeled off 10 unanswered points for a 52-50 advantage with 1:23 remaining. A pair of Porter free throws with 8 seconds left gave Central a 57-55 lead, but Karkosh drove to the basket for the game-tying hoop at the buzzer, forcing the overtime.
Coe jumped on top in the extra period. Central was still within 63-61 in the closing minutes, but the Dutch missed their final five shots.
Porter also had five assists and two steals while Ashley Gerst had a career-high 12 points for the Dutch. Central forced 20 Coe turnovers but was outrebounded 50-41.
While the Dutch record shows just a modest one-game improvement over last season, the club clearly began to embrace second-year coach Natalie Nakic’s aggressive style of play. Central shattered the season team 3-point attempts record of 312, set in 1997-98, with 618. The Dutch entered the week ranked fourth in the NCAA Division III in 3-point attempts. Forward Emily De Jong knocked down 51 3’s, the second-highest season total in school history. Guard Katy Paxton closes in second on the career 3-point list with 97 and also ranks second in career 3-point shot attempts with 287. Guard Morgan Martin ranks third in school history in career free throw percentage (80.7) while Porter is sixth in season assists (107).
Porter was the team’s leading scorer with a 15.2-point average and was tops in steals (1.7). De Jong was the rebounding leader with 6.2 per game.
The Dutch lose Martin, Paxton and Schmidt to graduation. Each was a three-time Academic All-Iowa Conference honoree and will be four-time varsity letterwinners. Central should return 77 percent of its scoring and 83 percent of its rebounding next season.