STORM LAKE, Iowa (Jan. 22, 2025) - Freshman Bradi Krager scored 24 points and hauled in 15 rebounds en route to her first career double-double on Wednesday night and helped lift the Buena Vista University women's basketball team to a strong 80-63 American Rivers Conference home victory over Nebraska Wesleyan.

Krager had reached the double-double by halftime as she headed to the locker room with 11 points and 11 board while the Beavers led 41-34. She finished the game shooting 8-of-13 overall, 4-of-8 from downtown and 4-of-4 at the free-throw line. Fellow freshman Tyme Boettcher followed with 13 points and senior McKenna Cone added 11. Junior Danika Demers chipped in with nine points, six rebounds and matched Boettcher for the team lead at four assists. Fellow junior Madalyn Hilgendorf also turned in nine points, grabbed seven boards and had a pair of steals.

Buena Vista finished 7-of-28 from long range (25 percent) and was 39 percent from the field overall. It attempted 71 total shots in the game which was the team's third-highest single-game mark this season. It was another solid night at the free-throw line as the Beavers converted 17-of-21 (81 percent), including all eight attempts in the third quarter.

The Prairie Wolves scored the first six points of the game before Demers nailed her only three-point basket of the night to cut the deficit in half. The Beavers slowly chipped away and eventually took their first lead at 9-8 on a made jumper from Boettcher. The teams traded baskets over the next two minutes before Krager drilled a long range attempt to give BVU a 16-13 advantage and they never trailed from there.

BVU took a 21-17 lead to the second quarter and led by as many as nine in the first half while taking the seven-point lead into the half. Hilgendorf buried her only three-pointer of the night just seconds into the second half that gave the team its first double-digit lead and sparked a 12-2 run to begin the half.

The Prairie Wolves didn't go away and managed to claw their way back to within seven midway through the third quarter before the Beavers made four straight free-throws and followed that up with eight straight points from Boettcher that gave the team an 18-point cushion (66-48) heading to the fourth. BVU outscored NWU 25-14 in the period and held NWU to just 4-of-17 shooting.

It was all Buena Vista in the final stanza as it led by as many as 23 and made 5-of-11 shots from the field to close the door.

Nebraska Wesleyan finished the game at 31.5 percent and went just 5-of-30 from downtown. The Prairie Wolves held a slight 51-46 edge on the glass but BVU was able to score 23 points off of 21 NWU turnovers, including 11 fast break points.

Maddie Demke led the way for the Prairie Wolves with 17 points with Carney Black right behind at 13 points and 12 boards.

Buena Vista has now won three straight match-ups against NWU and seven of the last eight. The team is now 6-11 on the year (1-7 A-R-C) and travels to Coe College on Saturday, Jan. 25, for a 2 p.m. tip-off.