Four players scored in double figures and grabbed at least five rebounds for the Buena Vista women's basketball team on Wednesday night, as the Beavers used a 14-2 run early in the second half to build a 12-point lead en route to a strong 69-63 road victory over Central College.  The game was the Iowa Conference opener for both teams.

Senior Jessica Christensen, who came in averaging better than 15 points per game, led all scorers with 16 points for BVU, on 6-of-12 shooting, to go along with eight rebounds and three steals in 32 minutes.  Amanda Roder connected on 5-of-9 from the field and 5-of-8 at the free-throw line to follow with 15 points.  She also hauled in eight rebounds and blocked two shots.  Laura Hilby made a two of the team's five three-point buckets en route to a 13-point performance.  She also tallied a team-high four offensive rebounds and seven overall.  Malarie Gilley chimed in with 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting, while also posting five rebounds and two blocked shots.  Tara Lehner dished out a team-high six assists, while also getting it done at the other end with six rebounds and a game-high four steals.

The Dutch led by as many as nine points nearing the midway point of the first half before the Beavers closed strong, using an 18-8 surge to take a 30-29 lead into the locker room.  The game was all tied at 31-31 less than a minute into the second half before back-to-back three-pointers from Brooke Wehle and Hilby helped spark the key 14-2 spurt over the next six minutes.

Central (3-2, 0-1 IIAC) got no closer than seven points until there was less than two minutes to play in regulation, but a pair of Roder free-throws quickly bumped it back to eight at 65-57 with just more than a minute remaining, and from there, the Beavers, who sank 12-of-18 at the line in the game, would sink 4-of-6 opportunities down the stretch to secure the six-point win.

Buena Vista shot 40.6 percent from the field in the contest and committed a season-low 17 turnovers.

With the win, BVU improves to 4-3 overall (1-0 IIAC).  It will step out of league play on Saturday afternoon when it returns home to Siebens Fieldhouse to host Crown College as part of a women's/men's doubleheader.  Tip-off of the women's game is 2:00pm.