Women's Basketball | 2/5/2021 9:16:00 PM

STORM LAKE, Iowa (February 5, 2021) - The Buena Vista women's basketball team will take the court for the first time this week when it plays host to Luther College inside of Siebens Fieldhouse on Saturday night.  BVU had its scheduled contest on Wednesday night postponed due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols.

THE MATCH-UP
Who: Luther (0-1, 0-0 A-R-C) at Buena Vista (0-2, 0-2 A-R-C)
When: Saturday, February 6, 2021  |  5:30 p.m.
Where: Storm Lake, Iowa  | Siebens Fieldhouse

MEDIA LINKS
Live Video: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/bvu/
Live Stats: https://nwusports.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary

SERIES HISTORY
Saturday marks the 85th meeting all-time between the two programs with the Norse leading by a 47-37 margin overall...The series dates back to the 1979-80 campaign where BVU picked up a 30-point win in Storm Lake...Luther has won 11 of the last 13 match-ups, including seven straight dating back to the 2017-18 campaign...BVU's last win over the Norse was an 85-66 triumph in Storm Lake on January 21, 2017.

LAST 5 MATCH-UPS
02/01/20  Luther 80, Buena Vista 65  |  Decorah, Iowa
01/04/20  Luther 91, Buena Vista 75  |  Storm Lake, Iowa
01/26/19  Luther 81, Buena Vista 50  |  Decorah, Iowa
01/05/19  Luther 69, Buena Vista 66  |  Storm Lake, Iowa
02/17/18  Luther 83, Buena Vista 62  |  Storm Lake, Iowa

LAST TIME OUT
The Beavers fell at home to Wartburg College 84-52 last Friday night.  BVU was held to just eight fourth quarter points in that contest as the Knights broke open an 18-point game entering the final period.  Junior Jayleen Cole knocked down a trio of long range buckets and led the Beavers with 11 points.  Sophomore Olivia Larsen followed closely with 10 points, five rebounds and five steals.  Sophomore Vanessa scored all six of her points at the free-throw line (6-of-6) and paced the team on the glass with seven rebounds.  The Beavers finished the game shooting just 33 percent from the field but did connect on 7-of-19 from downtown (36.8 percent).

ABOUT BUENA VISTA
BVU will play its third straight home contest to begin its season when it takes the court to face the Norse. Through the first two outings, the team is averaging 64.0ppg and shooting just shy of 40 percent from the field overall while converting an average of 6.5 three-point treys per night.  Opponents are shooting nearly 50 percent from the field but the Beavers have been able to hold them to under 30 percent from distance and are being outrebounded by only an average of three per game.  Sophomore transfer Olivia Larsen has scored in double figures each game, including a 24-point performance in the season opener against Central.  She's also turning in 6.5 rebounds, 30. assists and 4.0 steals per contest.  Freshman Megan Morenz is averaging right at 10.0ppg and grabbing 5.5 rebounds.  Sophomore Vanessa Hamlett has matched Larsen on the glass with 6.5 per game.  The Beavers will be looking to snap their current 19-game conference losing skid.  The team's last A-R-C victory came against the University of Dubuque on February 9, 2019.

ABOUT THE NORSE
Luther is playing its conference opener and just its second game overall on Saturday after dropping a non-conference contest at North Central (Minn.) back on January 16. Sophomore Jenna Uphoff led the Norse will 11 points. She was followed by Lizzie Kauls with 9 and Kristen Elliott with 8.  Luther, which was picked sixth in this year's coaches poll, has just two seniors on this year's roster after finishing the 2019-20 campaign at 12-4 in the league and 15-10 overall. The Norse were held to under 25 percent shooting overall by the Rams and made just 6-of-33 long range attempts.  The team did hold the edge in rebounding at 43-42 and forced 18 turnovers.  Senior Erin Saemrow grabbed a team-high 10 boards while Grace Prokosch hauled in eight. 

UP NEXT
The team will have a quick turnaround as it will play a rescheduled game on Monday (Feb. 8) at Loras College.  Tip-off against the Duhawks over in Dubuque, Iowa, is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.