MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.—Accelerating its offense in the second half, the Central College women's basketball team finally put away North Central College (Minn.) 74-63 Tuesday.
              
After taking a 20-15 first-quarter lead, Central (5-4) lost its shooting touch, connecting on just 15.0% (3-20) of its attempts from field in the second quarter and was clinging to a 29-26 edge at halftime. North Central (3-5) pulled ahead 36-31 in the first 3 minutes of the second half and the Dutch still trailed 39-36 before a 9-0 run put them up 45-39 with 3:10 remaining in the third quarter. Central stretched the lead to as many as 13 in the fourth quarter.
           
"We were just getting stops and we got a couple of easy looks in transition," coach Justin Weiland said of the turnaround. "And our flow offensively was pretty good, even in the first half. We just couldn't knock down a ton of shots."
           
Central hit 53.8% in the fourth quarter but just 36.8% for the game while North Central hit 37.9% but outrebounded the Rams 42-39.
           
Freshman forward Kaitlyn Mumm (Des Moines, Christian HS) cracked double figures for the first time in her young career, finishing with a team-high 12 points, all in the first quarter.
           
"She came out and was super aggressive and that's the mentality we need her to have," Weiland said. "She can shoot it, she can post up, she can finish around the rim and take it off the dribble."
           
Center Allison Van Gorp (junior, Pella, Pella Christian HS) had her second double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds but also beginning to emerge is freshman center CeCe Moore (Waterloo, West HS), who had had nine points and nine rebounds.
           
"She just been slowing down on the offensive end, which I think is huge for her," Weiland said. "She's slowing down her post moves. She's moving the ball, setting good screens. To go for nine points and nine rebounds, that's huge. And Allison goes for 10 and 10. We're going to be really hard to stop when they're doing that."
           
Contributions came from multiple directions as guard Hannah Dau (junior, Paullina, South O'Brien HS) had 10 points and guards Kassidi Steel (senior, New Sharon, North Mahaska HS) and Abby Johnson (junior, Ankeny) each had nine.
           
Dau and Steel recently returned from injury and Dau was important down the stretch, Weiland said.
           
"It's really nice having her back and having another guard that can handle the ball," he said. "She just reads the floor so well."
           
Central returns to American Rivers play with a home women's-men's doubleheader Saturday with Coe College. Game time is 2 p.m. at P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium. It'll be just the team's second home game out of its first 10. Coe is 5-2 overall and 1-2 in conference action after hammering Buena Vista University at Cedar Rapids last Saturday 92-49.
           
"It'll be nice to take tomorrow off and give them another day of rest because that's our biggest friend right now, just being able to rest our legs a little bit and get some energy back," Weiland said. "But it's a massive game for us Saturday. It'll be nice to be at home, for sure."
           
Food drive--Central's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee members will be stationed at the gym entrance Saturday collecting non-perishable food items from fans to support the Pella Food Shelf. There is a particularly high need for canned fruit, canned meat, peanut butter and cereals.