Pride survive Governors State on Kuchta's buzzer beater

DUBUQUE, Iowa - Playing their first game at the highest NAIA ranking they've ever had, the No. 4 Clarke University women's basketball team earned a hard fought 68-66 win over Governors State University on Wednesday evening.

Down by their largest deficit of four points with under two minutes remaining in the game, the Pride found Madison Lindauer on the left wing as Lindauer drove, found Nicole McDermott who passed out of a double team to find an open Maci Kuchta at the top of the key as Kuchta sank the three pointer to make it a 66-65 lead for GSU.

A stop on the defensive end would get the ball back in McDermott's hand as she would drive to the basket to get fouled, only hitting one of her two free throws to tie the game up at 66-66 with the shot clock turned off as the game clock was under 30 seconds.

Running the block under 10 seconds, the Jaguars' Tabetha Jones would miss a jumper as the ball would bounce out of bounds to give CU possession with 5.8 seconds remaining as head coach Adam Hocking would call a timeout to advance the ball.

A slightly broken play on the inbounds set would see Kuchta with the ball in her hands again as she would hit a driving floater from about 10 feet with 1.1 on the clock as they would force another Governors State miss and secure a 68-66 victory.

"Maci's a huge scoring threat for us, especially at the point guard position," Hocking said. "She's been a huge leader for us offensively as her and Nicole's ability at the guard position takes pressure off of our post players and opens up the floor."

Kuchta finished 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field while adding three rebounds and two assists with only one turnover on the night. McDermott starred finishing with 24 points and a game-high 15 rebounds for her second-straight double-double to start the season as McDermott provided consistent production with the Pride hitting some scoring slumps throughout the second half.

Jones had a game-high 25 points for the Jaguars on 8-of-17 shooting from the field as Angelique Cowan was the only other member of the GSU roster to finish in double figures with 12 points on the night.

Taylor Haase finished with 15 points in 28 minutes as the senior post player battled through foul trouble for the second-straight game to start the season, fouling out of the game with just over two minutes left in the game.

"This was just a gritty, hard fought team victory for us," Hocking said. "We struggled to find some rhythm offensively but we made our way and figured somethings out as the game went on. We can learn from this game, evaluate and critique in the film but it was a gritty and composed victory today."

Not yet done with conference play, Clarke women's basketball will head into Heart of America Athletic Conference play when they host William Penn University for a 2:00 p.m. CT tip in the Kehl Center on Saturday afternoon.