LINCOLN, Neb. – Caitlin Navratil scored a career-high 37 points to lift Nebraska Wesleyan to a 79-71 victory over McMurry University on Saturday night (Nov. 16) at Snyder Arena.
 
Navratil and freshman guard McKenzie Teten combined to score 57 of the team's 79 points handing the War Hawks their first loss of the season.
 
The 37 points scored by Navratil are the second most points scored in a game by a NWU women's basketball player, only behind the school record of 44 by Angie Gustafson in 1986.
 
In a game where the lead changed 20 times, the Prairie Wolves took the lead at 61-60 on a pair of free throws by Teten with 8:39 left in the game.  They would never trail again as they got up by as many as seven points late in the fourth quarter.
 
McMurry cut the lead down to two points with 1:08 remaining.  A long inbounds pass to beat the press allowed Teten to break free down the court and make a layup to get the lead back to four.  Navratil nailed two free throws to make it six points, then Sami Tucker secured a rebound and hit a pair of free throws to seal the win.
 
NWU trailed by one point after three quarters after leading by three points at halftime.  Neither team led by more than four points in the third quarter.
 
To start the game, the War Hawks led by as many as nine points in the first half, but just like Friday night, NWU battled back.
 
Much of the scoring was handled by Navratil and Teten.  Navratil, a preseason All-American was 13-24 from the field and countless times drove past her defender for a layup in the paint.  She also shot 10-12 at the free throw line, while pulling down five rebounds with four steals.  Teten did most of her damage at the free throw line also going 10-12.
 
As a team, NWU shot 29-40 at the free throw, outscoring McMurry by 17 points at the charity stripe.  The Warhawks attempted 14 more field goals than NWU and outrebounded the Prairie Wolves by 21, including 23 offensive rebounds and 22 second chance points.
 
The two teams combined to make only three 3-pointers with NWU going 2-15 and McMurry 1-9.
 
NWU will look to carry over this momentum into a third game on the homestand next Tuesday when they host Westminster College.