Women's Basketball | 2/26/2021 2:20:00 PM

STORM LAKE, Iowa (February 26, 2021) - The Buena Vista women's basketball team is set to close out its regular season schedule on Saturday afternoon as the Beavers go on the road to Loras College for an American Rivers Conference match-up.

THE MATCH-UP
Buena Vista (2-5, 2-5 A-R-C) at Loras (4-5, 2-4 A-R-C)
Saturday, February 27, 2021  |  4:00 p.m.  |  Live Video  |  Live Stats
Dubuque, Iowa  |  Lillis Court

SERIES HISTORY
The two sides of met up 72 times since the series began in 1986-87 with a 73-67 Buena Vista victory...Since then, the Duhawks have an overall record against the Beavers of 40-32, including five straight victories...Loras has hit the century mark in two of the last three match-ups...BVU's last win in the series came in Dubuque with a 69-56 win in 2017-18.

LAST 5 MATCH-UPS
02/05/20  Loras 70, Buena Vista 50  |  Storm Lake, Iowa
01/08/20  Loras 102, Buena Vista 60  |  Dubuque, Iowa
01/21/19  Loras 104, Buena Vista 53  |  Storm Lake, Iowa
12/13/18  Loras 73, Buena Vista 62  |  Dubuque, Iowa
02/20/18  Loras 88, Buena Vista 58  |  Dubuque, Iowa

LAST TIME OUT
Buena Vista used a big 11-2 run over the first few minutes of the fourth quarter to break open what was a two-point advantage at the start of the quarter en route to a 65-54 American Rivers Conference road victory at Nebraska Wesleyan on Wednesday night.  Sophomore Olivia Larsen led all scorers with 18 points while freshman Megan Morenz scored 11 and sophomore Vanessa Hamlett chipped in with 10.  The Beavers shot a season-high 50 percent from the field overall despite going just 3-of-15 from downtown.  Larsen, who leads Division III in steals per game this season, turned in four more as BVU tallied 10 overall and scored 18 points off turnovers in the contest.  Larsen also led the way with eight rebounds and four assists.

ABOUT BUENA VISTA
The Beavers continue to make strides with each game played this season.  After picking up its first conference win since 2018-19 earlier this season, the team just registered its first conference road win since winning at Loras (69-56) in February of 2018.  After losing each of its first two games this season by over 20 points, the team has since gone 2-2 with both setbacks coming by just 13 points or less.  After turning the ball over a combined 47 times in those two games to begin the year, BVU has cut down on its miscues by averaging only 16.5 turnovers since then while chalking up 60 steals during that stretch on the defensive end.  Larsen has helped ignite the team and is currently ranked second in the A-R-C in both scoring (19.0ppg) and rebounding (8.5rpg),while sitting fourth in assists (3.7) and is first in steals (5.5).  Hamlett has come on strong, scoring in double digits in three of the last four games and averaging 9.5ppg and 7.5 rebounds during those games.  Senior Cassy Miller is one of the team's big long range threats by shooting 56.3 percent from behind the arc (9-of-16).  Larsen, along with junior Jayleen Cole, have made seven treys.  As a team, BVU has been held to only 26.5 percent from distance while shooting 38 percent from the field overall.

SCOUTING LORAS
The Duhawks snapped a two-game skid on Wednesdaty night with a 60-52 road win at winless Luther College.  Sami Martin (15pts) led three players in double figures for Loras and also grabbed 13 rebounds.  Loras ranks fourth in the A-R-C in scoring offense this season with Martin sitting sixth, individually, with an average of 14.4ppg.  Cierra Bachman is also turning in 14.4ppg and is also fifth in the league with 30 made free-throws.  Loras is shooting 38.7 percent from the field and is last in the conference in field goal defense (47.1 percent).  Madison Haslow is the final Duhawk averaging double figures in scoring (11.4ppg) and is the team's biggest long range threat with 25 makes on the year.  The next closest is Sydney Schuler with 16.  As a team, Loras has 88 three-point buckets on the season and is shooting just over 33 percent.

UP NEXT
Buena Vista will take part in the American Rivers Conference Tournament scheduled to begin with the No. 8 vs. No. 9 game on Monday, March 8.  The remaining tournament takes place on March 9, 11 and 13, with the higher-seeded team hosting each match-up.