LINCOLN, Neb. – The Nebraska Wesleyan women's basketball team suffered their first American Rivers Conference loss of the season on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 5) as Loras College came into Snyder Arena and defeated the Prairie Wolves 88-70.
 
Loras now moves ahead of NWU in the American Rivers standings with a 4-1 conference mark, while the Prairie Wolves drop to 3-1.
 
The Duhawks jumped ahead 8-0 to start the game, but NWU then responded with eight points of their own to tie it back up.  Loras led 18-17 at the end of the first quarter.
 
NWU was able to regain the lead 27-26 in the second quarter on a basket by Sami Tucker with 5:41 left in the half.  The game would be tied three times the rest of the half, but Loras scored the final five points to lead 37-32 at the break.
 
In the second half, the Prairie Wolves made two early 3-pointers to cut the lead down to one point but they were never able to regain the lead.  It was a four-point Duhawk advantage with four minutes remaining then the Prairie Wolves found themselves down ten points two minutes later.  Loras led 66-56 after three quarters.
 
The fourth quarter was all Loras as they outscored NWU 22-14 and held the Prairie Wolves to just 14.3 percent shooting.  The Duhawks were 9-15 from the floor in the final period.
 
Riley Echart had a huge game to pace Loras with 28 points on 10-17 shooting.  Also scoring 20 points was Marissa Schroeder who posted a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds. 
 
Loras dominated the glass over the Prairie Wolves by 17, led by Kari Fitzpatrick who pulled down 16 boards.  They scored 20 points off those second chance opportunities.
 
For the Prairie Wolves, Caitlin Navratil led the way with 22 points, helped by 9-10 shooting at the free throw line.  Klaire Phillips also reached double figures with 10 points and four steals.