PELLA— A balanced offensive attack with four different players in double figures helped the Central College women's basketball team to a 2-0 start with a 67-56 win over the University of Northwestern – St. Paul (Minn.) Saturday.
           
Central (2-0) played on consecutive days on a weekend trip to Minnesota, winning both for its first 2-0 start to non-conference games since 2019-20 season.
           
Coming off the bench, Maddie Backer (freshman, New Ulm, Minn.) led all scorers with 16 points. CeCe Moore (junior, Waterloo, West HS) and McKenzie Snook (sophomore, Chariton) added 11 and 10 points off the bench, respectively. Jasmyn Williams (senior, Commerce City, Colo., Arvada West HS) was the only starter to hit double figures with 10 points
           
"Our team was tough today," coach Justin Weiland said. "Despite shooting 3-24 from the 3-point line, we were able to save ourselves by going 22-26 from the free throw line."
           
Leading by just two points going into the fourth quarter, Central's defense limited the Eagles to just eight points in the final 10 minutes.
           
"I love that we have only given up a combined 15 points in the fourth quarter of the first two games," Weiland said.
           
Snook led the team with eight rebounds. Bailey Reding (senior, Grundy Center) had seven.  Williams paced the team with five assists and Backer had four steals.
           
Central plays Saturday at 2 p.m. against the University of Northwestern – St. Paul (Minn.).