CEDAR RAPIDS—A late scoring drought ended the Central College women's basketball team's comeback hopes in a 70-54 setback against Augustana College (Ill.) in the Coe College Tournament Friday.
           
An equally uneven start put the Dutch in an early 30-14 hole but that lead was sliced to 39-33 at intermission. Augustana (2-0) stretched the advantage back to 48-35 before Central went on a 13-6 burst and the lead was 54-51.
           
But Central scored just three points in the fourth quarter and a Kelsea Hurley (junior, Scottsdale, Ariz., Desert Mountain HS) free throw was the team's only point in the final 8:52.  The Dutch hit only one of 13 shots from the field in the period.
           
Yet the young team flashed promise in parts of the game that coach Joe Steinkamp said were missing in the team's opening loss at Grinnell Monday night.
           
"We just played a lot better all-around game," he said. "We competed well against a really physical team. It was good to see."
           
Even in the fourth quarter the Dutch had chances.
           
"We had some good looks from three with good shooters that just didn't go down," he said.
             
Hurley finished with 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds while forward Kassidi Steel (sophomore, New Sharon, North Mahaska HS) had 11 points and three assists.
           
"Kassidi played a great all-around game," Steinkamp said. "She defended their leading scorer really well, she did a good job on the game and she made some nice threes."
           
Freshman guards Alayna Akiona (Honolulu, Hawaii, Kalani HS) and Hannah Dau (Paullina, South O'Brien HS) each had nine points while freshman center Allison Van Gorp (Pella, Pella Christian HS) had seven points and seven rebounds.
           
"We were just more patient on offense and more physical on defense," Steinkamp said. "We were more organized than that first game when there were a lot of people playing their first college varsity game ever. But you can see these players are learning quickly and we're excited about their progress." 
           
The Dutch continue play in the Coe tourney Saturday with a 2 p.m. contest against Westminster College (Mo.). The Blue Jays took a 1-1 record into a Friday evening game at Coe.