WAVERLY— A stifling defensive effort by No. 7-ranked Wartburg College locked down the Central College women's basketball team Wednesday, 63-50.
           
The Dutch (4-2) mustered just 25% shooting from the field and a 4-for-22 night from 3-point range, while committing 18 turnovers.
           
"They did a really good job of defending us and our actions," coach Joe Steinkamp said. "On top of that, we weren't able to knock down shots from the perimeter like we were Monday night (against Nebraska Wesleyan). The combination of poor shooting and good defense kind of did us in."
           
Central did respond with a formidable defensive showing as well in limiting the nationally ranked Knights (12-1 overall, 5-1 American Rivers) to 36.8% shooting and forcing 20 turnovers. Guard Kelsea Hurley (sophomore, Scottsdale, Ariz., Desert Mountain HS) had four steals and also shared team scoring honors at 13 with guard Maci Gambell (junior, Hedrick, Pekin HS).
           
"We had stretches where we defended pretty well," Steinkamp said. "We gave up some easy shots in transition and they scored too many baskets off of offensive rebounds. But our half-court defense was pretty good. You just can't shoot 4-for-22 from three against the No. 7 team in the country and expect to win."
           
Forward Payton Rogers (senior, Moravia) had eight points and 11 rebounds. But Central was outboarded 46-35.
           
The Dutch, who are averaging 72.8 points a game, were especially slow out of the gate, trailing 14-7 after one period and 34-24 at intermission. Wartburg, which has played 13 games, played like it, and led by as many as 22 points.
           
"We played really hard," Steinkamp said. "And we showed some signs of scoring better late. We just hope to learn from this and start preparing for the next game. We don't have time to dwell on it. We've got an important couple of weeks left. We need to get ready for the conference tournament."
           
Central continues its stretch of four games in eight days with its regular-season home finale Saturday against Luther College at 6:30 p.m. at P.H. Kuyper Gym. The Norse are 0-8 overall and 0-7 in the league after a 60-52 home loss to Loras College. Luther took two of three games from the Dutch a year ago.
           
A video webcast of Saturday's game can be accessed at the Central athletics website at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/central/ while the contest will also be broadcast on KRLS-FM (92.1) or rdo.to/krls with Jon Mohwinkle calling the action.