Jasmine Demers set a career-high with 19 points, Holly Schneider did the same with 18 and Jordan Tynes matched hers with 16 off the bench, as the Buena Vista women's basketball team flirted with a school record in points during a convincing 108-77 home victory over the University of Dubuque on Wednesday night to begin Iowa Conference play.
The game was virtually all Beavers from the opening tip, as they made their first seven shots and jumped out to a quick 18-2 lead. Schneider closed the opening quarter with a pair of free-throws and a three-point bucket to give BVU a comfortable 33-16 lead.
BVU kept its foot on the gas throughout the second as well, putting up 28 more points to take a 61-27 lead at the break. Its the most points scored by the Beavers in a first half since the NCAA switched quarters last season.
The Spartans tried to claw back and got the deficit back to within 21, but the Beavers had a final push in them late in the third to push it back to 34 after three. BVU was able to maintain that lead throughout the final frame en route to its fifth-highest scoring output in school history.
Demers made 6-of-12 shots from the field and set a career-high in both free-throw makes (6) and attempts (7). Five of those makes came during a wild sequence where she drew a foul, which was followed by a pair of Dubuque technical fouls late in the first half. She also grabbed five rebounds, dished out a career-best seven assists and matched her career-high with five steals.
Schneider, meanwhile, was 7-of-10 from the field and made a career-high two three-point shots. Sidney Beckman matched Schneider's point total with a 4-of-9 effort from downtown while Tynes was 7-of-9 from the floor.
Jessica Jager came up big off the bench as well, hauling in a career-high 12 rebounds while dishing out three assists. Jess Denholm came off the bench late and drilled a pair of three-point attempts and made two free-throws to tally a career-best eight points in only two minutes.
As a team, BVU finished the game shooting 46.5 percent from the field, including a 21-of-31 effort in the first half to help build its big lead. It made a season-high 10 three-point shots and also went 22-of-29 from the charity stripe.
Madison Boer turned in a game-high 22 points for the Spartans (2-4, 0-1 IIAC).
The win is the seventh in the last eight home games for BVU, dating back to last season. It's the highest point total for the Beavers all-time against an Iowa Conference opponent and only 12 points away from the IIAC record of 120 against Central in 2008.
Buena Vista is now 3-3 on the year (1-0 IIAC) and will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when it travels to Nebraska Wesleyan (3-2, 0-1 IIAC) for a 2:00pm tip-off.