PELLA — The Central College women's basketball team hosted Loras College on Wednesday evening in their first conference game since December 13. While the return to A-R-C ball was highly anticipated, Loras got out to an extremely fast start that the Dutch were not able to overcome in a 72-43 loss.

Loras outscored Central 27-10 in the first quarter, firing on all cylinders offensively while limiting the space allowed defensively. Although their offense came back down to earth in the second quarter, their defense remained a force to be reckoned with, and the Dutch found themselves trailing 42-19 heading into halftime.

Central looked a lot more comfortable coming out of the half—specifically in the third quarter where they found their rhythm and outscored Loras 17-16. Unfortunately, however, while it does provide Central with a silver lining heading into their next game against Luther College, it was nowhere near enough to overcome the big first half from Loras, who ended up winning 72-43.

Maddie Backer (freshman, New Ulm, Minn.) led the way offensively with 11 points on 4-7 shooting from the field. On the other side of the ball, Lydia Smith (freshman, Waukee) recorded a team high two steals, while Emily Naughton (junior, Indianola) recorded two blocks. CeCe Moore (junior, Waterloo, West HS) led the way on the glass with five rebounds.  

Central travels to Luther College Saturday for a 2 p.m. contest.