PELLA—Riding a wave of momentum and milestones, a youthful Central College women's basketball team will travel to Decorah Tuesday to take on Luther College in the first round of the six-team American Rivers Conference tournament.
           
Game time is 7 p.m. It's the first league tourney appearance for the Dutch since 2004-05.
           
Pairings were announced after conference play was concluded Saturday. Central (15-10 overall, 7-9 conference) carries the No. 6 seed while Luther (14-9 overall, 12-4 conference) is the No. 3 seed. In the other first-round game No. 5 seed Simpson College travels to No. 4 seed Coe College. Top-seeded Wartburg College and No. 2 seed Loras College have first-round byes. Tuesday's Central-Luther winner will travel to Loras for a semifinal contest Thursday at Dubuque.
           
Central split a pair of regular-season games with Luther, getting overpowered at Decorah 79-41 Jan. 8 before rallying from a 13-point halftime deficit for a 58-56 upset win at Pella Feb. 12. It was the team's first win over the Norse since 2014, snapping a 10-game losing skid.
           
"We had two dramatically different games," coach Joe Steinkamp said. "We didn't do a good job of handling their pressure in the first game but had a lot better ball handling in the second game. There are two keys against Luther. One, we have to limit turnovers. And two is we have to rebound. A lot of times they send all five players to the offensive glass. When we won, in the second half we rebounded better and we were able to fuel our transition game, getting layups and open threes."
           
Steinkamp anticipates some Norse adjustments.
           
"I'm sure they'll be aware of Kendall Brown (senior, Moravia) inside," Steinkamp said, noting she had 20 points and eight rebounds in the Feb. 12 win. "But we'll be ready for however they want to guard her and try to make plays accordingly."                                                                                
           
The tourney berth continues a major program turnaround in the third season under Steinkamp, who inherited a squad that was 2-14 in league play the previous year. This year's steadily improving club won its last three regular-season games and did so with a starting lineup that included two freshmen and just one senior.
           
"We're really excited to make the tournament," Steinkamp said. "At the same time, the players are not satisfied. They're not just happy to be there. They want to compete. Their confidence is growing and they expect to play well."
           
It's another step in returning the Dutch to contender status. Prior to 2000, they captured six conference titles and made five NCAA Division III tournament appearances, winning the 1993 national championship.

Noteworthy…
Team

• First conference tournament berth since 2004-05
• Most conference victories since 2001-02
• Most season victories since 2000-01
• Most road wins since 1997-98
• More than doubled number of conference and season wins of past two seasons
• Recorded first win over Luther College since 2014
• Recorded first win at Storm Lake since 2009

Individual

• Only one senior among top 10 scorers on team
• Three of top four scorers are freshmen or sophomores
• A freshman, guard Kelsea Hurley, is team leader in scoring, (13.5 points per game), 3-point goals (54), free throw percentage (83.6) and assists (77)

Forward Kendall Brown

• Broke own season blocked shots school record (74)
• Set school career blocked shots record (233)
• Broke school game field goal percentage record (91.6%, 11-12 at Buena Vista, Feb. 19, 2020)
• Ranks sixth in the NCAA Division III in season field goal percentage (63.1%)
• Ranks ninth in the NCAA Division III in season blocked shots (74)