WAVERLY—Central College's Kelsea Hurley (senior, Scottsdale, Ariz., Desert Mountain HS) shattered her own school women's basketball consecutive free throws mark but first-place Wartburg College outscored the Dutch 80-37 Wednesday.
           
Hurley, Central's leading scorer on the season with 13.3 points per game, hit all four of her free-throw tries Wednesday, giving her 27 in a row. She hasn't missed since Nov. 23 at Knox College (Ill.). She previously shared the school mark of 23 set by all-time leading scorer Emilie Hanson March 2-Nov. 29, 1994. Hurley, who entered the game ranked third in Division III in free throw percentage, has now knocked down 47 of 50 attempts on the year (94.0%). She previously hit 23 straight from Feb. 16-Nov. 16, 2022.
           
But Wartburg (10-4 overall, 4-0 American Rivers) shot 55.6% from the field in the first quarter to race to a 24-14 lead, then used a stingy defense to stretch the advantage to 40-19 at intermission. The Knights shot 64.7% in the third quarter, exploding for 30 points and coasted for the win.
           
Central (3-10 overall, 0-4 conference) got 13 points from center Allison Van Gorp (sophomore, Pella, Pella Christian HS). Hurley had six rebounds and three assists. The Dutch were outshot 47.1% to 21.0% and outrebounded 46-43.
           
Central is home Saturday for a conference women's-men's doubleheader with Loras College at 2 p.m. at P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium. The games will be broadcast on KRLS-FM (92.1) with a video stream available through the Central athletics website at athletics.central.edu.
           
Loras, which posted wins over nationally ranked Calvin College (Mich.) and Babson College (Mass.) in recent holiday break action, was taken down at Luther College Wednesday 68-62. The Duhawks are 10-3 overall and 3-1 in conference play.