Pride fend off second half push from Mount Mercy to 84-66 win

DUBUQUE, Iowa - In a rematch from just over a month ago, the Clarke University women's basketball team had to take Mount Mercy's best shot on their way to a runaway 84-66 win over the Mustangs on Wednesday night.

With 5:32 remaining in the fourth quarter, MMU had cut a Clarke lead that was as large as 15 in the first half and 12 in the third quarter to a 63-60 game and somewhat quieted the Kehl Center crowd.

But the Pride would lock in and finish the game on a 21-6 run that was ignited by a pair of Mya Merschman three pointers with Tina Ubl free thwos in the middle to push the lead back to double digits as CU wouldn't look back for the remainder of the game.

Ubl and Merschman were the catalysts for Clarke as they combined for 41 of the team's 84 points with Ubl dropping a season-high 24 points on 10-of-18 (55.6%) shooting from the field while Merschman scored 17 points on 5-of-6 (83.3%) shooting from the field and 3-of-4 (75%) shooting from deep as the 17 ponits was just one off of Merschman's career-high 18 set just two games ago at Graceland.

In the midst of her 24 points, Ubl also moved into second place all time on the Clarke women's basketball scoring list as she passed Tina Kuhle's 1,773 with a free throw in the fourth quarter. 

Beyond Ubl and Merschman's strong offensive night, three of the remaining four starters finished in double figures with a 14-point, nine-reobund, and four-assist effort from Nicole McDermott and matching 10-point efforts from Emma Kelchen and Giana Michels.

Mount Mercy's second half push was powered by strong shooting from the trio of Madison Dreckman, Sammy Mia, and Deja Antoine as they all finished in double figures with 17, 14, and 13 respectively. 

The Pride will get back on the road for the weekend as they'll head to Parkville, Mo. for a matchup with the Park University Pirates this Saturday for a 12:00 p.m. CT tip.