Susan Kies turned in a team-high 21 points and Lexi Fisher followed with 18, as the Buena Vista women's basketball team hung on in the end for a big 83-79 victory inside of Siebens Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon.
Kies finished 5-of-8 from downtown and 7-of-13 shooting overall. She also hauled in a career-high seven rebounds, while matching a career-best with seven assists. Fisher made 6-of-14 from the field and 5-of-7 at the free-throw line. Malarie Gilley chipped in with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting, while Shelby Wiederhoeft added 11 points and eight rebounds.
As a team, BVU shot 50 percent from the field and made 8-of-18 from downtown.
It was a back-and-forth game from start to finish with neither team able to put together enough of a run to pull away.
Central grabbed its first lead at 18-17 midway through the first half before extending it to 21-17. The Beavers had an answer, getting back-to-back three-pointers from Kies and Sidney Beckman to reclaim a 23-21 advantage.
Another long range bucket from Kies pushed the margin to 28-21 with under seven minutes to play in the opening half before Fisher's jumper with 3:26 left gave BVU its largest lead of the game at 34-26.
The Dutch were able to hang tough over the final minutes of the frame and cut their deficit in half, as the Beavers led 38-34 at the break.
BVU upped its lead to seven early in the second half, but the game was virtually a one possession game for most of the half until Fisher's layp with 6:15 left made it a 67-59 Beaver lead.
A 6-0 spurt by the Dutch closed the gap to 67-65 with 4:34 left. A free-throw and then a layup by Fisher later extended the margin to 72-65 with 3:30 to play, but the Dutch were able to keep the pressure on down the stretch, as a three-pointer with a minute to play made it a 75-72 contest.
Lacey Vokt and Lexi Fisher each went 4-of-4 from the free-throw line over the final 51 seconds, including the final two from Fisher which pushed it from a two to four point margin at game's end.
Buena Vista improves to 7-10 overall (1-5 IIAC), while the Dutch dip to 9-8 (1-5 IIAC). BVU will now close out the first half of the Iowa Conference on the road at Luther College (10-7, 1-5 IIAC) on Wednesday night at 6:00pm.