Loras College began the game on a 23-9 run and was able to maintain that advantage for most of the night, as the Duhawks handed the Buena Vista women's basketball team a 69-54 home loss on Wednesday night.

After falling behind early, the Beavers just couldn't put together enough of a run to stake a comeback.  The Duhawks had an answer for BVU nearly the entire game, and never let BVU get back within 11.

Loras built a 48-30 lead four minutes into the second half and later pushed it to 19 midway through the period.  Buena Vista made a late charge, scoring seven straight points to make it a 61-50 contest with five minutes to play, but the Duhakws ran off four straight points to make it 65-50 with under two minutes left and BVU was unable to get any closer than that.

Senior Becca Pennington turned in 16 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out five assists to help pace BVU offensively.  Junior Lexi Fisher followed with 12 points, four rebounds and three assists, while senior Shelby Wiederhoeft added eight points and matched sophomore Jessica Jager with a team-best six rebounds.

Overall, BVU shot 35 percent from the floor and attempted just six free-throws all game.  Meanwhile, Loras connected on 53 percent from the field and made all 16 free-throw attempts.

Lori Obentorf led all scorers with a game-high 20 points for the Duhawks, who improved to 12-8 overall (6-3 IIAC).

Buena Vista is now 7-13 on the year (2-7 IIAC) and will travel to Luther College on Saturday afternoon for a 2:00pm contest.