LINCOLN, NEB. — The Central College women's basketball team traveled to play Nebraska Wesleyan University in the American Rivers Conference opener Wednesday night, winning a thriller 73-70.

Central was down 70-63 with less than a minute left before rattling off an improbable 10-0 run to close the game and come out victorious. The Dutch had to play close to flawless basketball down the stretch to complete the comeback and get the win. It started with a Jadyn Filling (senior, Ankeny) 3-pointer from the top of the key to cut the lead down to six with 51 seconds remaining. Central then got a quick defensive stop in which Emily Naughton (junior, Indianola) recorded a steal on the inbound pass from Nebraska Wesleyan and followed it up with a three pointer of her own to make it a one-point game with 39 seconds remaining. At this point there was real momentum building for Central, but they still had to execute on both the defensive and offensive end—and the Dutch did just that.

They got yet another stop on defense and had possession of the ball with 0:27 remaining and a chance to take the lead. Central successfully got into their set, which set up a pick and roll involving Kaitlyn Mumm (junior, Waukee, Des Moines Christian HS) and CeCe Moore (junior, Waterloo, West HS). After setting the screen, Moore got loose on the roll and received a needle-threading pass from Mumm, resulting in a left-handed layup that gave the Dutch a 71-70 lead with 0:15 remaining. Central then forced Nebraska Wesleyan into an out-of-control layup that was rebounded by Jasmyn Williams (senior, Commerce City, Colo., Arvada West HS), leading to Naughton getting fouled and drilling both free throws to go up 73-70—the eventual final score.

Maddie Backer (freshman, New Ulm, Minn.) was the leading scorer for the Dutch with 17 points on an extremely efficient 7-9 from the field and 3-4 from three. Backer was also the Dutch's leading rebounder, with six. Abbey Bence (junior, Burlington, West Burlington HS) had a nice scoring game as well, adding another 15 points to the Dutch's total. Naughton's playmaking played a very important role in Central's scoring, as she dished out a team-high six assists.

The Dutch now move to 5-2 on the season (1-0 conference) and will head to Storm Lake to take on Buena Vista University on Saturday, December 6 at 2 p.m.