Pride women's basketball runs away with 85-68 win over No. 13 Dakota State

DUBUQUE, Iowa - In an early top-25 matchup in the NAIA, No. 19 Clarke University women's basketball came away with a near 20-point victory over No. 13 Dakota State University Friday night at the Kehl Center.

The Pride were led by the second-straight 20-point performance from Emma Kelchen to start the season as she dropped 25 three nights after opening the season with 22 points at Cardinal Stritch on Tuesday. Kelchen shot 7-of-11 (63.6%) from the field and added five rebounds with 11 of her points coming from the free throw line.

The final score did not reflect how close the game was throughout as the game was at 64-60 with five minutes left to go in the game when head coach Courtney Boyd called a timeout to settle down her team. It was a good use of that timeout as CU went on to finish the game outscoring the Trojans 21-8 for the remainder of the fourth quarter.

DSU had strong individual performances from Jessi Giles and Savannah Walsdorf but that was about it as the tandem combined for 52 of the team's 68 points in the game as Giles scored a game-high 29 points and Walsdorf added 23. Only one other player for the Trojans made multiple shots from the field and no other individual had more than four points in the game.

Clarke had five players in double figures as Taylor Haase hadded 15 off the bench, 14 from Giana Michels, 13 from Tina Ubl, and 12 from Mya Merschman. A low scoring night for Nicole McDermott didn't hinder the rest of her game as she added a game-high tying six rebounds and a game-high five assists.

It will be a quick turnaround for the Pride against another tough foe as they will prepare to face No. 8 Wayland Baptist on Saturday afternoon for a 1:00 p.m. CT tip scheduled at the Kehl Center.