PELLA, Iowa (Jan. 11, 2023) - Sophomore McKenna Cone scored a career-high 27 points to help lead the Buena Vista women's basketball team at Central College on Wednesday night, but the Dutch overcame an eight-point fourth quarter deficit to edge the Beavers on a last second bucket, 60-58.

BVU held a 54-46 advantage with 3:50 left in regulation before the Dutch rallied to tie the contest at 58-58 with 20 seconds to go. Cone missed on her layup attemp with under 10 seconds left, and that led to the game-winning shot by the Dutch at the other end by Abby Johnson, who led the way with 15 points.

The game was tied at 16-16 at the end of the first quarter and was all square, 30-30, at the break. The Dutch held a narrow 42-39 advantage heading to the fourth before scoring the first bucket for a 44-39 lead.  Back-to-back buckets by senior Vanessa Hamlett helped spark a 15-2 surge that gave BVU its largest lead of the game at the 3:50 mark.

Cone finished the game shooting 12-of-23 from the field and made both free-throw attempts. Hamlett came up big with six points, eight rebounds, six assists and a pair of steals. Freshman Danika Demers chipped in with eight points, five boards and four assists while matching Cone with 30 minutes played.

The Beavers made 8-of-16 attempts from the field in the fourth quarter despite shooting just 36.8 percent for the game. They made 6-of-19 from long range but were held to only four free-throw opportunities while the Dutch were 8-of-9.

BVU held Central (4-11, 1-5 A-R-C) to just a 31 percent clip from the field and 8-of-24 from beyond the arc, including 3-of-10 over the final two quarters.

Buena Vista is now 6-9 overall (1-6 A-R-C) and will close out the first-half of league play by hosting Wartburg College on Saturday, Jan. 14, at 2 p.m.