STORM LAKE, Iowa (January 29, 2020) - Buena Vista junior Erin Gerke scored a career-high 29 points as senior Destiny Einerwold added 19, but the duo couldn't quite bring the Beavers all the way back from a 20-point second half deficit, as Nebraska Wesleyan escaped with an 86-81 victory on Wednesday night inside of Siebens Fieldhouse.

BVU didn't have an answer for Caitlin Navratil in the first half as the senior scored 22 of her game-high 31 points to help lead the Prairie Wolves to a 54-35 halftime lead.  The Beavers were still down by 18 going to the fourth and after trailing by as many as 20 to begin the final period, BVU got hot from long distance, getting back-to-back makes from Gerke and Christina Schauer.  Another trey by Gerke minutes later got the Beavers back within 12 before she made 1-of-2 at the free-throw line to make it a nine-point game with 3:28 still to play.

Einerwold made a pair at the charity stripe with just under two minutes to go in regulation which pulled the Beavers within seven at 81-74.  A minute later she added two more to cut the deficit to five.  NWU would push it back to a seven-point margin on a layup from Navratil, the league's leading scorer.  Freshman Emerson Else drilled the final one of the team's five three-point buckets in the period with just under 10 seconds left to get BVU as close as four.  That would be as close as the team could get as the Prairie Wolves tacked on two final free-throws from the final six-point margin.

Gerke used a career-high four three-point makes to help aid her career night that saw her go 11-of-17 from the field overall.  She also dished out a career-best six assists and added three steals while playing a team-high 37 minutes.  Einerwold registered her first career double-double with the 19 points and 10 rebounds.  The senior leads the A-R-C in both free-throw attempts and makes, including a 9-of-10 effort in this game.  Else turned in a career-best seven points off the bench as BVU got 26 points from its reserves.

The Beavers nailed a season-high 10 three-point attempts (10-of-27) while shooting 40.6 percent from the field overall.

NWU (6-11, 3-7 A-R-C) shot just shy of 50 percent from the field and was 5-of-12 from downtown.

Buena Vista (1-17, 0-9 A-R-C) is back on the road this Saturday, February 1, as it travels to Decorah, Iowa, for a 2 p.m. contest against Luther College (10-7, 8-2).  The Norse went on the road on Wednesday and knocked off Simpson, 73-63, for its third straight victory.