STORM LAKE, Iowa (January 4, 2020) - The Buena Vista women's basketball team fell behind by 21 at the end of the first quarter, would cut that deficit down to 11 in the second quarter, but it was too much to overcome in the end, as Luther College picked up a 91-77 victory inside of Siebens Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon.

BVU had 14 turnovers and only 10 points in the opening quarter as the Norse raced out to a 31-10 lead.  The Beavers picked up steam midway through the second quarter and got as close as 43-32 before Luther hit 1-of-2 free-throws with no time on the clock to take a 44-32 lead into the break.  The Norse pushed the margin back to 17 heading to the fourth, and the Beavers were unable to make enough of a run in the end despite outscoring Luther by three in the final period.

Five players scored in double figures for the Beavers, led by 19 from senior Destiny Einerwold.  She was 7-of-10 from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 at the charity stripe, and also dished out a team-leading seven assists.  Nicole Lange turned in a career-high 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds while Jennifer Schneider also chipped in with 15 points, including a career-best five three-point buckets.  Erin Gerke rounds out the group with 13 points and two treys as BVU goes 9-of-18 from long range.  It finishes the game shooting a season-best 51.1 percent from the field and also made 20-of-24 free-throws.

The Beavers couldn't overcome a season-high 34 turnovers as the Norse went on to turn those into 40 points.

Sarah Holtz led Luther with a game-high 24 points as the Norse have won five straight games following an 0-5 start and are now 5-5 (3-0 A-R-C).

Buena Vista drops to 1-12 on the year and 0-4 in conference play.  The Beavers will go after their first league victory as they play a pair of road contests this week, starting with a Wednesday night match-up at #23 Loras College with tip-off at 5:30 p.m.