The Buena Vista women's basketball team led 40-39 at the half, but it was Central College going on a 31-10 run to begin the second half, to help the Dutch claim an 81-63 victory in Pella on Wednesday night.

Freshman Sidney Beckman had a career night in a losing effort for the Beavers, scoring a career-best 21 points to go along with a career-high three steals.  She made 3-of-7 attempts from long range and 4-of-5 at the free-throw line.

Junior Shelby Wiederhoeft made all eight of her free-throw attempts and followed with 16 points and seven rebounds.

As a team, the Beavers shot 36 percent from the field, while also going 19-of-21 at the charity stripe, but committed 21 turnovers which led to 33 points for the Dutch.

Central led most of the first half until Lexie Moreno hit a three-pointer to give BVU a 36-35 lead with 2:14 left.  Lacey Vokt later converted a layup just before the buzzer to give the team a one-point halftime lead.

BVU opened a five-point lead early in the second half, but the Dutch (10-12, 2-9 IIAC) used a 31-10 to open up a 70-50 cushion with less than seven minutes to play, and they never looked back from there.

Central shot better than 50 percent from the field, while making 8-of-21 from downtown.

The Beavers squandered an opportunity to complete the season sweep of the Dutch and possibly clinch a spot into the Iowa Conference Tournament.

The loss drops BVU to 10-12 overall (4-7 IIAC).  The Beavers will look to get back on track on Saturday when it stays on the road to play a tough road contest at league-leading Loras College (15-7, 10-1 IIAC).  The Duhawks are coming off their first conference loss of the season on Wednesday, falling at the University of Dubuque.