A second-quarter scoring drought stifled upset hopes for the Central College women's basketball team in a 79-60 season-ending defeat against Loras College.
           
The Dutch bolted to a 12-2 lead in the first 4 minutes and were up 22-11 with 2:38 left in the first quarter. But open shots suddenly became scarce against an extended Loras zone defense. Central went nearly 10 minutes with one basket and mustered just five points in the second period to trail 40-27. Loras (21-4 overall, 14-2 American Rivers), an NCAA Division III tourney hopeful, outshot Central 64.7 percent to 18.2 in the period and maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
           
Guard Kristin Hubert (senior, Hornick, Woodbury Central HS), in her final Central game, had 13 points and four assists to share team scoring honors with guard Jenna Clark (freshman, Story City, Roland-Story HS). Forward Kendall Brown (junior, Moravia) had eight points, six rebounds and one block.
           
"When they were in man-to-man, we were getting great shots and knocking them down," coach Joe Steinkamp said. "It was sort of an emotional start as we were riding the wave of honoring Kristin. We got some steals and got out in transition.
           
"We thought we had some things ready for that zone and early on in the second quarter we did get some good shots against it but we didn't make them and then the turnovers started to come."
           
Central shot a steady 45.1 percent from the field for the game and came up with 14 steals but committed 26 costly turnovers and was outrebounded 36-25. Loras shot 49.2 percent from the floor.
           
"Offensively, in the second half, we kind of got back into it," Steinkamp said. "We attacked more and we got more inside touches. That was kind of our focus at halftime. We weren't able to get Kendall (Brown) enough touches around the rim in the first half. We did a much better job of that in the second half."
           
But Central struggled to control Loras forward Marissa Schroeder who had 22 points on eight-of-11 shooting.
           
"We had no answer for her," Steinkamp said. "We tried everything. She's a league MVP-type player."
           
Steinkamp values Hubert's leadership.
           
"We had kind of an emotional talk in the locker room," Steinkamp said. "There's so much love and appreciation for what she's meant to the program. She's such a selfless leader. She only cares about the team.
           
"We'll be talking about what she did for our program for a long time."
           
Brown closed the year with a league-leading 73 blocks, a school season mark.
           
"Just an awesome season for her defensively," Steinkamp said. "She continues to anchor our defense and we're looking forward to her potentially breaking that record next year. If she continues to grow and develop, we think she can be a first-team all-conference player."
           
While the Dutch finish at 7-18 overall and 3-13 in American Rivers play in Steinkamp's second year at the helm, that represents modest progress for the clearly ascending program. It's the team's highest league win total in five years. Hubert is the team's only senior and the bulk of the scoring came from freshmen and sophomores. There are also early indications that Steinkamp's recruiting efforts will yield an even more promising freshman class next year.
           
"It's a definitely a step," he said. "It's the best finish we've had in a long time and the fact that we were able to do that and have almost the entire group coming back just gives us a lot of promise. At the same time, we've got a lot of work to do. But I feel like we have the right group that wants to work and that's what excites us. No matter what happened to us throughout the year, when we lost some games we had chances to win, they weren't fazed by it. They kept coming to practice, kept working hard and they stayed positive."
           
But Steinkamp points to the program's rising energy level and enhanced culture as well.
           
"We just really love how many players want to get better," he said. "You walk past the gym, there's always people in there. We've got multiple kids asking us to work them out. That's what it's going to take."