Women's Basketball Stays Unbeaten in Conference Play with Win over Cornell

The Buena Vista women’s basketball team remained perfect on their home court this season, while also moving to 3-0 in the Iowa Conference, with a thrilling 61-60 victory over Cornell College (4-7, 2-2 IIAC) inside of Siebens Fieldhouse on Wednesday night.

Senior Jessica Christensen made four three-pointers and added a pair of free-throws to help lead the way with 14 points, while sophomore Susuan Kies buried three long range shots en route to 13 points.  Senior Laura Hilby chimed in with nine points and seven rebounds, while Malarie Gilley came off the bench to add nine points and a team-leading 10 rebounds.

Each team made 12-of-30 shot attempts from the field in the first half, but the Beavers made five three-point baskets to Cornell’s two and held a 38-32 lead at the break.  Neither team could find the touch in the second half, as each converted less than 30 percent of their shots over the final 20 minutes.

Cornell sank 7-of-9 free throw attempts in the second half, compared to just 4-of-12 for BVU.

The Beavers led 51-38 just over six minutes into the final period before the Rams went on a 13-0 run over the next four minutes to take a 52-51 lead midway through.  BVU then scored the game’s next five points to grab a 56-52 advantage before Kies made it an eight point cushion at 61-53 with four minutes to play.

A three-pointer for Cornell with exactly a minute to play got the Rams within one, but the Beavers clamped down defensively in the closing seconds to hang on for the win.

Rikki Mulloy led all scorers with 19 points for the Rams, who did out-rebound BVU, 54-36.

Buena Vista pushes its overall mark to 8-4 this season and will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when it travels to Decorah, Iowa for a 2:00pm tip-off at Luther College.

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