The Buena Vista women's basketball team jumped out to an early 16-0 lead on Saturday and never looked back en route to a commanding 85-66 win over visiting Luther College (10-6, 6-2).

BVU, which dropped a 71-63 decision to the Norse in Decorah last Saturday, came out of the gate strong in this contest, scoring the first 16 points of the game.  The Norse got on the board with a pair of free-throws midway through the first quarter, but still trailed by 16 after the first.

Luther slowly chipped away at the lead in the second quarter, using a 9-2 run at the start of the quarter, and another late surge at the end of it to get as close as eight at the break (37-29).

BVU scored the first four points of the second half and later Sidney Beckman drilled a three-pointer to put the Beavers back in front 46-33.  The Beavers were still in front by 11 at 50-39 with under 4:00 left in the third quarter before going on a 10-2 run over the next three minutes to push the lead to 60-41.

The Beavers took a 17-point margin to the fourth quarter and quickly pushed it up to 28 at 77-49 on a Liz Riessen three-point make.  It was all BVU from there as it handed Luther just its second loss in its last seven games.

Sophomore Morgan Muhlbauer turned in yet another stellar effort, scoring a game-high 15 points, hauling in seven rebounds and dishing out four assists.  Claudia Larsen came off the bench and provided a spark with 13 points, while Jordan Tynes and Holly Schneider also chipped in with 13 points.  Jasmine Demers added 11 points and five boards, while Sidney Beckman just missed out on double figures with nine points on 3-of-9 shooting from downtown.

Buena Vista shot nearly 46 percent overall from the field, including a solid 10-of-22 from long distance.

Sarah Holtz (10pts) was the only Norse to reach double figures.  She also led the way with eight boards.

The win moves the Beavers to 9-8 on the year (5-3 IIAC), and they will now entertain Simpson College (7-10, 4-4 IIAC) on Monday night at 6:00pm.  The game is a make-up contest which was originally scheduled for last Monday.