STORM LAKE—On a night filled with offensive struggles, guard Abby Johnson (sophomore, Ankeny) delivered a career-high 24 points to lift the Central College women's basketball team to a 68-59 road win at Buena Vista University Saturday.
           
Meanwhile, the Dutch (8-16 overall, 5-10 American Rivers) again brought rock-solid defense in winning their third game in the last five outings.
           
"BV has always been a tough place to play, even when I was a player," coach Moran Lonning said. "It was their senior day and their last game of the season, so they really wanted that game. We had to really work and really grind all the way down to the end."
           
Johnson hit nine of 16 shots from the floor and grabbed a team-high 13 rebounds for her third double-double of the season.
           
"She had some big shots when we were struggling to score," Lonning said. "It was fun to see her take some aggressive drives to the basket and a couple of threes fell, too. That's got to feel good for her but also for our team to keep people honest when they're guarding us."
           
Guard Hannah Dau (sophomore, Paullina, South O'Brien HS) also had a productive night, nailing nine of 10 free throws and scoring 16 points.
           
"Most of (the free throws) were in pretty high-pressure situations," Lonning said. "I like when she's aggressive. She has great handles, she's strong and she can shoot the three. She had a really great game and we needed her to."
           
Central led 34-28 at halftime and Buena Vista (6-18 overall, 1-15 confernce) remained within striking distance most of the way, climbing within 46-45 with 9:04 left. But a 7-0 Dutch run gave some breathing room and they knocked down the free throws they needed down the stretch. Central hit 19 of 22 from the line.
           
The Dutch outshot Buena Vista 37.9% to 33.9% but was outrebounded 36-34.
           
"We were able to get stops," Lonning said. "It was a physical game but we found a way."
           
Saturday the Dutch travel to Indianola for the season finale at Simpson College. After dropping an 83-79 overtime decision in the teams' first meeting at Pella, Jan. 19, Central looks to continue building momentum heading into the off-season.
           
"These last couple of weeks we've really tried to just take it one game at a time," Lonning said. "It's easy to get ahead of yourself but I'm so glad that we really stayed focused on BV and got the win. Now we've got Simpson on Saturday, which we know is going to be an even tougher game."
           
Simpson hammered Nebraska Wesleyan 73-41 on the road Wednesday, improving to 14-10 overall and 9-6 in conference play, tied for third place.