News Release

DECORAH, Iowa — It’s down to one game for the Central College women’s basketball team and an Iowa Conference tournament berth.

While the Dutch fell to regular-season league champ Luther College Wednesday night 78-63, Coe College was stymied by Simpson College 74-52. That leaves Central at 4-11 in league play and Coe at 5-10, with the two teams meeting Saturday in Cedar Rapids in a women’s-men’s doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. Saturday’s winner will receive the final spot in the six-team conference tournament that starts next Tuesday. A Central victory would put both squads at 5-11 and the Dutch would get the tiebreaker by sweeping the season series. They were 70-56 winners over the Kohawks at Pella Jan. 20.

Wednesday Central (6-18 overall) got another strong outing from forward Emily De Jong but couldn’t match Luther’s torrid shooting. The Norse (19-4 overall, 14-1 conference) hit a sizzling 66.7 percent from the field to Central’s 40.4 percent effort that included just 32.1 percent in the first half.

De Jong, making a late-season surge, had 14 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists while guard Laura Porter and forward Erin Benson each added 14 points. Benson also had seven rebounds while Porter contributed five assists.

“They just wore us out,” said coach Natalie Nakic. “We attacked their press and made a couple good runs. We shot the ball better in the second half and we stayed with them in terms of rebounding but as the game wore on, we just got tired. That plagued us as we made turnovers on a couple key possessions. It was a decent game for us but we needed to shoot better in the first half.”

Central outrebounded Luther 29-28 but couldn’t overcome a deficit that stretched to 38-26 at halftime.

Saturday’s games at Coe will be broadcast on KRLS-FM (92.1) and can also be heard at www.kniakrls.com.