LINCOLN, Neb.  – Nebraska Wesleyan opened American Rivers Conference play with an impressive 74-63 victory over Central College in women's basketball action on Wednesday night (Nov. 28) at Snyder Arena.
 
In a game where both teams struggled shooting the basketball, it was the Prairie Wolves who made just enough to even their record at 3-3 overall.  Central fell to 2-6 and 0-1 in American Rivers play.
 
NWU jumped out to a 20-9 lead after the first quarter and Central would never get the lead again.  The Dutch actually led 6-0 and held the Prairie Wolves scoreless until the 6:26 mark of the 1^st half.  From there, NWU went on a 10-0 run to take the lead and they didn't relinquish it the rest of the way.
 
The Prairie Wolves shot only 32.5 percent in the 1^st half, but that was still better than Central College which shot 28.1 percent from the field.   Both teams made five 3-pointers in the first half, then connected on five more in the second half.
 
Caitlin Navratil, coming off here American Rivers Player of the Week honor, put together another solid offensive effort to lead the Prairie Wolves.  Navratil was 8-13 from the field scoring 20 points with a team-high five assists.  The rest of the NWU team was just 17-57 from the floor.
 
Klaire Philliips also scored in double figures for Nebraska Wesleyan as she had 12 points.  Phillips did most of her damage at the free throw line going 7-8 at the charity stripe.  Phillips also had six steals on the night.

Central was led by Kristin Hubert who scored 20 points with four made 3-pointers.  The Dutch had two players reach double figures in rebounds, led by Kendall Brown with 14.  Central held a +10 advantage on the glass.
 
NWU will go for its third straight win on Saturday at University of Dubuque.