GRINNELL, Iowa (Nov. 26, 2024) - The Buena Vista women's basketball team made a season-high 12 three-point buckets, including a career-high five from senior McKenna Cone, and that hot long range shooting aided the Beavers during their 77-60 non-conference road victory inside of Darby Gymnasium at Grinnell College on Tuesday night.

BVU came out of the gates and made 8-of-9 attempts from downtown in the opening quarter and shot 55 percent overall from the field, which propelled the Beavers to a 31-14 lead after one quarter. From there, however, the team managed to go just 4-of-17 from beyond the arc, but finished 10-of-15 from the field overall in the third quarter, which allowed it to open the largest lead at 63-35 on a layup from Caislyn Long with under 4:00 left. Despite going a combined 7-of-30 shooting in the second and fourth quarters, it held the Pioneers to a combined 10-of-27 over that same stretch.

The Beavers led 69-45 heading to the fourth quarter, and despite scoring just three points over the first five minutes of the final frame, as the Pioneers chipped away to get back within 19 at 72-53, they were able to maintain that double-digit lead down the stretch and not let Grinnell push any closer than 16.

Cone finished 5-of-7 from long range in the contest and helped lead the way with 19 points. Junior Danika Demers followed with 12 points, six rebounds, a season-high six assists and two steals. Freshman Tyme Boettcher also scored 12 points to go along with her five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Those two combined to shoot 4-of-8 from beyond the arc. Junior Madalynn Hilgendorf rounded out the double-digit scorers for BVU with 11 points, including a season-best four made free-throws.

Buena Vista connected on 12-of-26 from distance, marking the team's highest single-game total since it made 14 against the University of Dubuque on Feb. 8, 2019. The team finished the game at 43 percent overall from the field and overcame a 9-of-15 effort at the charity stripe.

The defense came up big again for BVU, forcing the Pioneers into 26 turnovers, and holding them to 6-of-23 from downtown and 41 percent from the field overall. The Pioneers, now 5-2 on the year, didn't help their own cause by going just 12-of-22 at the free-throw line.

Buena Vista has won back-to-back game for the first time since November of 2022 and is back to .500 this season at 3-3 overall. The Beavers will remain on the road and travel to Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wis., on Saturday, Nov. 30 with tip-off at 2 p.m.