Pride roll into break with resounding 77-63 win over Benedictine

DUBUQUE, Iowa - In their final game before heading into winter break, the Clarke University women's basketball team left no doubt in a 77-63 win over Benedictine College on Saturday afternoon at the Kehl Center.

The Pride used a dominant 25-13 second quarter to pull ahead to a 43-26 lead at halftime behind 16 first half points from Tina Ubl, who led the team in scoring for the fourth-consecutive game with a season-high 22 against the Ravens. Ubl did a little of everything outside of the 22 points as she added three rebounds, two asissts, and two steals while shooting 60 percent from the floor.

Clarke was able to spread the ball around nicely on the offensive end as no player outside of Ubl had more than 10 points with nine total players making a shot from the field and eight of those nine hitting multiple shots. Giana Michels and Madison Lindauer both added double figures scoring outputs for the Pride with 10 each as Lindauer's 10 is a season high as she made the most of a minutes boost due to injury.

The rest of the scoring for CU saw both Emma Kelchen and Nicole McDermott scoring eight, Taylor Haase scored seven, and the trio of Skylar Culbertson, Mya Merschman, and Halle Boldt all added four points as the Pride shot over 50 percent as a team for the fifth time this season at 50.9 to finish the contest.

Benedictine had two players in double figures as both Aaliyah Raines and Kennedy Nicholson scored 11 points for BC but the Ravens struggled from the field as a whole, shooting 39 percent from the field and 26.1 percent from three-point range with the Clarke defense also forcing 17 turnovers.

Clarke women's basketball will now head into break where they will be away from game action for about two weeks when they will return to the Kehl Center to host their final non-conference matchup of the season when they welcome St. Ambrose University to Dubuque for a 12:00 p.m. CT tip on Dec. 31.