CEDAR RAPIDS—Stumbling out of the gate, the Central College women's basketball team was down 14 after the first quarter and never recovered Monday as Coe College secured third place in the American Rivers standings with a 76-58 victory.
           
The win pushes the Kohawks to 6-2 in the league (7-3 overall), inching ahead of Central which is 5-3. The Dutch slipped into a tie for fourth place with the University of Dubuque, but it's still the highest league finish in 20 years for coach Joe Steinkamp's surging program. Heading into next week's nine-team conference tournament, Central holds an edge over the Spartans on the basis of a 72-71 win in its season opener at Dubuque Jan. 23.
           
Tournament pairings have not yet been finalized but quarterfinal games will be played next Tuesday, March 9 with the highest-seeded team in each game serving as host.
           
But Monday the Dutch mustered just 20% shooting from the floor in the first period and found themselves trailing 25-11. Central steadied itself a bit in the second period and improved to 35% shooting but Coe, which hit six of 15 first-half 3-point tries, was up 45-28 at the break and led by 24 at one point. Central used an eight-point third-quarter run to crawl within 47-36 at the 5:47 mark but never got the advantage back to single digits.
           
"In all three of our losses, we've gotten hurt by horrible first quarters," coach Joe Steinkamp said. "In the third quarter we made a little bit of a run and we could have got even closer but we missed some free throws. We had a chance to get the lead down to a manageable number."
           
The Dutch were 14 of 21 from the line for the night, with four misses in the third quarter.
           
Guards Carson Fisk (sophomore, Searsboro, Lynnville-Sully HS) and Kelsea Hurley (sophomore, Scottsdale, Ariz., Desert Mountain HS) each had 14 points. Fisk also had three assists. Guard Emily Hay (senior, Lowden, North Cedar HS) had five rebounds and three steals but the Dutch were dominated on the glass, 51-32, surrendering 14 Coe offensive rebounds. Central was outshot 41.2% to 31.6%.
           
"Coe played really well," Steinkamp said. "Jackie Feldt had a great game with 28 points and was clicking on all cylinders, inside and outside. We weren't very sharp defensively and rebounding really got the best of us. You can't beat a good team like Coe and get outrebounded like that."
           
But the contest ends a string of four games in eight days giving the Dutch some much-needed time off before the league tournament commences.
           
"We really haven't had any sustained practice time in the gym for the last month," Steinkamp said. "We'll take tomorrow off, then it will be nice to spend some time getting back to the basics before we start preparing for the tournament."