LINCOLN, Neb. – The Nebraska Wesleyan women's basketball team ended the year with a 76-73 victory over Central College on Wednesday night (Feb. 14) to earn their 14^th victory of the season.
 
With that victory, NWU ends the season with the most wins since the 2000-01 season as they end the year 14-11 overall.
 
It came down to the final minute as Central made a 3-pointer with just over one minute remaining to cut the lead to 74-73.  Neither team was able to score on either of the next two possessions giving the ball back to Nebraska Wesleyan with 11 seconds remaining.
 
Central fouled twice, finally getting the Prairie Wolves into the double bonus sending Caitlin Navratil to the line with six seconds left.  Navratil calmly nailed both free throws to make it a three point advantage.  Central got a 3-point attempt off with two seconds remaining but it went off the rim giving the Prairie Wolves the win.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan used their full-court pressure defense to cause havoc on Central the entire game.  The Dutch committed 31 total turnovers in the contest and NWU scored 34 points off those turnovers.
 
That pressure was evident in the second quarter as Central led by seven points, but that lead vanished as NWU went on an 11-1 run to take a five point lead.  They would hold that five point advantage into the halftime break at 47-42.
 
NWU continued to build on the lead in the second half and went up by 12 points with 4:33 left in the game.  However Central used a 13-2 run to get within one point in the final minute.
 
The Prairie Wolves shot just 37.5 percent as a team, taking 80 shot attempts compared to 47 for the Dutch.  Central also outrebounded the Prairie Wolves by 18 and shot 51.1 percent from the field.
 
In the end it was the turnovers that cost the Dutch the game.
 
Caitlin Navratil led the Prairie Wolves with 23 points, scoring 15 in the second half.  She also had four steals and four assists.  Macy Gustafson was right behind with 22 points on 7-14 shooting.  Carly Bostock also reached double figures with 10 points.
 
Central was led by Emily Dine and Kendall Brown with 14 points.  Brown was a perfect 7-7 from the field.
 
It was senior night for the Prairie Wolves as Audra Thramer played her final game in an NWU uniform.