LINCOLN, Neb. (February 24, 2021) - The Buena Vista women's basketball team began the fourth quarter on an 11-2 run to help break open a two-point game and help lift the team to a big American Rivers Conference road win at Nebraska Wesleyan on Wednesday night.

BVU led 42-40 at the start of the fourth quarter in a game that featured 10 ties and 13 lead changes throughout the first 30 minutes.  Junior Jayleen Cole sparked the start of the run as she nailed a big three-point bucket to give the Beavers a 49-42 cushion with six minutes to go, and the Prairie Wolves were able to get no closer from there.  Sophomore Vanessa Hamlett followed with a pair of free-throws before sophomore Olivia Larsen nailed a jumper in the lane for the game's first double-digit lead of the night with 5:00 to play.  Moments later Larsen gave the Beavers their largest lead at 13, as NWU got no closer than nine.

The game was back-and-fourth throughout until the final quarter.  Neither team was able to build more than a four-point margin.  The Prairie Wolves got a layup just before the end of the first quarter buzzer to lead 15-13 before BVU did the same just before the half to take a 31-29 lead to the locker room.

Larsen finished in double figures for the seventh straight outing, scoring a game-high 18 points to help lead the charge while grabbing eight rebounds, dishing out four assists and recording four steals.  She's currently second in the conference in both scoring (19.0ppg) and rebounding (8.3rpg), is fourth in assists (3.7apg) and leads the league in steals (5.6spg).  Freshman Megan Morenz (11pts) was two shy of matching her career-high and also grabbed six rebounds and dished out a career-best three assists.  Sophomore Vanessa Hamlett chipped in with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting.

Buena Vista, which made 9-of-14 field goal attempts in the fourth quarter, shot a season-high 50 percent from the field in the contest despite going just 3-of-15 from long distance.  It also converted 8-of-10 attempts at the charity stripe to help secure its first conference road victory since winning at Loras (69-56) on February 10, 2018.  It's the team's first overall victory away from Siebens Fieldhouse since defeating Westfield in a game play in Las Vegas in December of 2018.

Nebraska Wesleyan (1-6, 1-6 A-R-C) was held to 36 percent from the field, including just 2-of-12 in the final period.  The team was only 4-of-14 from beyond the arc in the game.  The Beavers also forced the Prairie Wolves into 21 turnovers and outscored them 46-24 in the paint.

BVU improves to 2-5 overall (2-5 A-R-C) and will now close out the regular season on Saturday afternoon when it travels to Loras College for a 4:00 p.m. contest against the Duhawks.