The Buena Vista women's basketball team used a big 17-7 run midway through the second half to build a 58-48 lead, and used a stellar effort at the free-throw line in the closing minutes to hang on and pick up a big 68-65 road victory at Loras College (16-4, 6-4 IIAC) on Saturday afternoon.
Sophomore Becca Pennington (Mt. Ayr, Iowa/Mt. Ayr) was one of the big free-throw contributors for BVU down the stretch, sinking all four of her attempts over the final 1:15 and finished tied for the team lead with 12 points. Freshman Lexi Fisher (Glenwood, Iowa/Glenwood) hit a pair of three-point buckets and also finished with 12 points, while senior Brooke Wehle (Denison, Iowa/Denison-Schleswig) and junior Susan Kies (Fonda, Iowa/Newell-Fonda) each added 11 points. Wehle dished out a team-high four assists and becomes just the 12th player in school history to record at least 200 assists in her career.
Junior Malarie Gilley (Grand Junction, Iowa/East Greene) turned in nine points, four rebounds and a pair of blocks for BVU, while freshman Jasmyn Flynn (Council Bluffs, Iowa/Abraham Lincoln) had a career-day, coming off the bench and scoring seven points, grabbing five rebounds and dishing out an assist in 18 minutes of play. She had not played more than nine minutes in a game all season.
The first half was tight from the opening tip as neither team led by more than four points the entire half. There were also seven lead changes and a pair of ties.
The second half was the same story with neither team leading by more than three until the Beavers broke open a 41-41 game with its 17-7 run. Gilley scored eight of those points for BVU with Kies adding five.
The Duhawks, who were receiving votes in the latest d3hoops.com poll and had only one home loss on the year coming in, weren't about to go away, slowly clawing their way back to within as close as a point at 64-63 with just under a minute to play before a pair of free-throws from Wehle and two more from Pennington secured the win.
The Beavers shot 42 percent from the field on the day, despite going just 3-of-10 from downtown. The key came at the free-throw line, where they made 23-of-26, while Loras made just 21-of-34.
Buena Vista improves to 9-12 on the year (2-8 IIAC) and will return home this week for two more big games, beginning with the University of Dubuque (16-5, 6-4 IIAC) on Wednesday night at 6:00pm. It will also be Faculty/Staff Appreciation Night inside of Siebens Fieldhouse, as the Beaver Athletic Department recognizes all faculty and staff of BVU for all their support throughout the year.