Coe College used a key 17-0 run over a three-minute span late in the second half to pull away and send the Buena Vista women's basketball team to a 74-61 loss in the Iowa Conference opener for both teams on Wednesday night.

The Beavers trimmed a 15-point first half deficit down to 40-33 at the half and continued to use that momentum early in the second half.

A three-pointer by sophomore Lexi Fisher, who tallied 15 points in the contest, got BVU off on the right track to start the final 20 minutes, as they pulled within 44-41 less than three minutes in.

The Kohawks pushed the lead back up to 49-41, but BVU continued to fight back yet again, and tied things up at 51-51 with 12:30 to play.

Shelby Wiederhoeft made 1-of-2 at the line and gave the Beavers a slim 52-51 advantage before a bucket and free-throw from Fisher pushed the marging to five.

Malarie Gilley, who turned in a game-high 19 points, made a pair of free-throws to keep it a four-point lead at 57-53, but then went seven minutes without scoring, as the Kohawks went on their run to take a 70-57 lead with only 2:30 left.

Gilley connected on just 4-of-12 shots from the field, but did sink 11-of-15 at the line, while grabbing seven rebounds.

Fisher made 2-of-5 from downtown and all three free-throws.

Susan Kies, who came in leading both the team and conference in scoring, was held to only nine points, but she did become just the 16th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points.  She came in needing only eight.

As a team, the Beavers shot just 29 percent from the floor, but stayed in the game by making 21-of-27 at the charity stripe.

Coe (6-6, 1-0 IIAC) had four players in double figures and shot nearly 44 percent overall.

The Beavers are now 6-6 on the year (0-1 IIAC) and will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when they play host to Loras College in a 2:00pm tip-off.