Spartans Beat Loras on Senior Day
Feb 16, 2013 | J.Crane
DUBUQUE, IOWA – The University of Dubuque Women’s Basketball team earned the three seed in the upcoming Iowa Conference Tournament with a 60-51 win over Loras College (17-8, 7-7) on Saturday afternoon inside Stoltz Sports Center. UD shot 57.1% (12-21) from the field in the second half to break a 23-23 tie at halftime. Dubuque is now 18-7 overall and 8-6 in the IIAC. The Spartans 18 wins are a school record.
Between games, the Spartans honored seniors Ashley Barwick (Appleton, Wis./Xavier), Jena Darwin (Menomonie, Wis./Menomonie Senior), Krystal Pritchett (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township), and Mollie Whiting (Woodstock, Ill./Woodstock). The seniors finish the regular season with 59 victories, a UD record for a graduating class in a four year period. The group also won a UD best 34 IIAC games in the last four years.
Whiting finished with a game high 26 points with 15 coming in the second half. Whiting improved her points per game average to 26.6 which places her third in Division III. She extended her steak of 20+ point games to 15 games and has scored 15 or more points in 19 straight contests. Whiting moved atop the UD career list for field goals made with 629. The senior guard also moved into third place on the UD career scoring list with 1,638 points.
After a first half that saw one lead change and four instances with a tied score, the Spartans opened up a six point lead by holding Loras scoreless over the first 4:44 of the second half. UD did not trail the entire second half taking their largest lead of the game on a Stephany Ramakel (Dubuque, Iowa/Hempstead) free throw with 20 seconds left in the game to make the score 60-51 and cap a 7-0 run to end the game. Remakel finished with eight points, eight rebounds, and two blocks.
The Spartan bench accounted for 29 points with Alexis Lozano-Dobbs (Keokuk, Iowa/Keokuk) chipping in seven points, five rebounds, and four assists. Jennifer Fischer (Deerfield, Wis./Deerfield) and Jessica Goetz (Sussex, Wis./Arrowhead) had six points. Fischer also pulled down a team high eight rebounds.
Dubuque took charge of the game late with a lockdown defensive effort while holding Loras without a field goal for the last 4:33 of the game. The Spartans forced 22 turnovers which led to eight steals in the game. UD held the Duhawks to 27.8% shooting from the field and 12.5% from beyond the arc.
The Spartans 9-1 record at home is the best in the programs history.
UP NEXT: UD will host Luther College (13-12, 5-9) in the opening round of the 2013 IIAC Tournament on Tuesday, February 19th at 6:00 pm. The Spartans and Norse split the season series with each team winning at home. Live video/stats available at: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/dbq.portal
