Unleashing a record-tying 3-point barrage, the Central College women's basketball team scored just its second season-opening victory since 2001, knocking off Bethany Lutheran (Minn.) 76-71 Monday night.

Coming off a 2-23 season, the young Dutch hit 12 of 26 shots from long range, tying the mark set against Cornell Feb. 4, 2006.

"It was an excellent way to start," coach Jerry Nikkel said. "It was a real team effort on both sides of the court, offense and defense. We played really good team defense. That was up a whole notch from where we were last year. We've worked on it a lot in practice and it's good to see it show up in a game. Our defense dictated the way the game was played, especially in the second half."

Senior guard Jordan Waddell poured in 19 points, two shy of her career high, hitting 4 of 6 from 3-point range.

"I thought she played very relaxed," Nikkel said. "She shot the ball well and she was under control all night. That was really good."

Central, which trailed 31-30 at intermission, was able to win despite sending Bethany Lutheran to the free throw line 35 times. The Vikings converted 24. Central was 10-of-17.

But the undersized Dutch held a surprising 43-40 rebounding advantage and shot a respectable 40.9 percent from the field. Both stats were encouraging to Nikkel.

"Shooting was a real bugaboo for us last year," he said. "And in our scrimmages last week, we didn't shoot very well. So it was good to see us come out shooting well tonight."

Central also got 12 points from guards Kelsey Schuring and Cory Bacon. Bacon, in her first start at point guard, delivered seven assists with two steals and a block while committing just one turnover.

"I thought Cory Bacon really played well," Nikkel said. "She handled the ball well and she shot well. She did a lot of good stuff for us."

Bacon also shared team-high rebounding honors with forward AJ Baker as each had six.

Central led by as many as seven points in the second half but Bethany Lutheran rallied for a 69-67 advantage with 2:57 left. But the Dutch went on a 7-0 run that included a Waddell 3-pointer and led the rest of the way.

"It seemed like several kids stepped up when we needed them to," Nikkel said.

The Dutch make their first road appearance this weekend, traveling to the Nebraska Wesleyan Invitational at Lincoln, Neb.  Central takes on St. Catherine (Minn.) in a 6 p.m. game Friday, with the third-place and championship games set for Saturday afternoon. Also in the tourney are host Nebraska Wesleyan and Westminster (Mo.).