PELLA — It was a sluggish post-Christmas start for the Central College women's basketball team Friday night until guard Emily Dine (senior, Oldsmar, Fla., East Lake HS) made it rain.
           
Dine poured in a school-record 11 3-point buckets, including five in the second quarter, for a career-best 33 points, turning a late first-half deficit into a surprisingly lopsided 85-53 lopsided victory over Knox College (Ill.). For the third time this season, Central tied the team 3-point goals record with 16.
           
The Dutch (7-4) were still down 25-21 with 5 minutes left in the first half before knocking down four 3-pointers, including a pair by Dine, on a 12-0 run for a 33-25 advantage they never relinquished. Central was up 39-29 at the break.
           
Dine hit 11-of-18 shots, all from beyond the arc, in shattering her own school mark of eight set a year ago against Iowa Wesleyan. The Division III record is 15. Her previous scoring high was 31 against Dubuque Jan. 13, 2016. The 33 points ties her for the 23rd on the school single-game scoring list.
           
"That was a fun game to be a part of," coach Joe Steinkamp said. "I've been coaching a long time and I've never seen a shooter have a night like that. You'd think with 11 threes, you'd be surprised, but knowing Emily and the kind of shooter she is, I'm not surprised. If she gets a clean look inside of 25 feet, she'll make it."
           
More unexpected was the final margin.
           
"I didn't think it would be that kind of game," Steinkamp said. "(Knox) has had some decent wins in their league. No one has really blown them out. We just got really hot."
           
The Dutch put on the shooting display despite the absence of senior point guard Jessica Helton (senior, Nevada), one of the team's top 3-point shooters. She's sidelined by injury until early January. Replacing her was a concern and the Dutch did so by committee, Steinkamp said.
           
"Our game plan was we wanted our shooters to shoot the ball and spread the floor," he said. "We also wanted our post players to rebound on offense and we did a good job of that. We had 16 offensive rebounds and were able to score on a lot of those."
           
Despite being limited to 19 minutes of action, forward Jackie Kriegel (senior, Marengo, Iowa Valley HS) had her fourth statistical double-double of the year with 11 points and 11 boards.
           
"I can't say enough about her activity and her energy," Steinkamp said.
           
Guard Kylie Mack-Garding (senior, Gilbert, Ariz.) also had 11 points.
           
Central, which shot just 31.3 percent from the floor in the opening period and had six turnovers, shot 50 percent in the second quarter and 52.6 percent in the third, finishing at 44.3 percent for the night while Knox made just 36.8 percent. Central connected on 41 percent from 3-point range and held a commanding 46-34 rebounding advantage.
           
"We told the players that the first quarter was a typical first quarter coming back after a break," Steinkamp said, noting the 10-day Christmas layoff. "It was disappointing that we gave up some easy looks. But we really responded. We made some adjustments and defended a lot better."
           
Central comes back with the season's final non-conference contest Saturday against Augustana College (Ill.) at 6 p.m. at Rock Island, Ill. The Vikings are 7-3 and own an 80-71 win over Iowa Conference rival Coe College. Central was outscored at Augustana last year, 81-55.
           
"Augustana is a great opponent from a very good conference," Steinkamp said. "They play a completely different style and give you a lot of pressure. But we've played against some other good opponents this year and this will help prepare us for the rest of the conference season.
           
"We're excited to play a good team on the road. We've got to prove we can win a game like that if we're going to be the team we want to be."