Women's Basketball | 12/3/2019 2:20:00 PM

STORM LAKE, Iowa (December 3, 2019) - The Buena Vista women's basketball team is set to tip-off American Rivers Conference play this week, making a trip down to Lincoln, Neb., to face Nebraska Wesleyan on Wednesday night before playing its home opener versus eighth-ranked Wartburg College on Saturday afternoon.

GAME DETAILS
Wednesday, December 4 | Snyder Arena | Lincoln, Neb. | 5:30 p.m.
Buena Vista (1-6, 0-0 A-R-C) at Nebraska Wesleyan (3-4, 0-0 A-R-C) | WATCH | STATS

Saturday, December 7 | Siebens Fieldhouse | Storm Lake, Iowa | 2 p.m.
No. 8 Wartburg (4-1, 0-0 A-R-C) at Buena Vista (1-6, 0-0 A-R-C)  | WATCH | STATS

LAST TIME OUT
The Beavers played a pair of games at the Simpson College Thanksgiving Classic this last weekend.  They dropped a 71-53 contest to Calvin on Nov. 29 before losing to Concordia-Moorhead, 73-58, on Nov. 30.  Destiny Einerwold led the team in scoring both days, averaging 15.0ppg and being named to the All-Tournament Team.

SERIES OUTLOOK
The Beavers lead the all-time series with the Prairie Wolves, 28-13, but have dropped five of the last eight meetings after winning 11 straight.  NWU took both match-ups a year ago, including a narrow 71-68 contest down in Lincoln.  Against the Knights, BVU has dropped seven straight and is 35-44 all-time.  

SCOUTING NEBRASKA WESLEYAN
The Prairie Wolves are coming off a 1-3 record on a west coast trip that saw them play games in both Colorado and most recently California.  The teams win during that stretch came against Johnson & Wales, 90-64, on November 23.  It enters A-R-C play after dropping a pair of games out in California over Thanksgiving, including a 92-54 contest against Pomona-Pitzer to wrap up the trip.  Senior guard Caitlin Navratil, who recently became the programs all-time leading scorer with over 1,500 career points, enters league play atop the conference in scoring at 23.1ppg.  She was recently named to the D3hoops.com Team of the Week.  McKenzie Teten is ninth in the league in scoring at 13.9ppg.  The Prairie Wolves are fourth in scoring offense (74.9ppg) but sit ninth in scoring defense (83.4ppg).  They are also last in the league in rebounding defense at 50.3.  NWU is coming off a 

SCOUTING WARTBURG
The Knights take the floor this week averaging 74 points per contest and sitting second in the A-R-C in scoring defense at 61.4ppg.  Payton Draper is the team's leading scorer in the early going at 9.8ppg and is also tops in rebounding at 4.2rpg.  In addition to Draper, reigning conference MVP Emma Gerdes, as well as Kaitlyn Volesky, are also averaging at least 9.0ppg.  The team is shooting just under 48 percent from the field, 33 percent from the free-throw line and just less than 79 percent at the charity stripe this season.  The Knights have won two straight after suffering a 10-point loss at No. 19 UW-Platteville.  The team is again the coaches pick to win the conference crown this season after going 15-1 in league play a year ago.

ABOUT BUENA VISTA
The Beavers look to get off to a solid start in conference play and snap a current four-game losing streak.  The team is averaging just over 58.0ppg on the year and is right in the middle of the league in scoring defense at 70.0ppg.  Einerwold is ranked third in the A-R-C in scoring at 16.0ppg and is doing a good chunk of work at the free-throw line where she has already made a league-high 41 and shooting 78 percent.  Erin Gerke is 22-of-24 at the line and is second in the conference at 91.7 percent.  She's averaging 10.7ppg overall and ranks 10th in steals at 2.3 per outing.  As a team, the Beavers are shooting 33 percent from the field and 26.7 percent from long range.  It has seen most of its success in the early going at the free-throw line where it's 73.8 percent which is third-best in the league.