DUBUQUE, Iowa (Feb. 8, 2025) - For the first time in three seasons, the Buena Vista University women's basketball team has won back-to-back American Rivers Conference games after its 71-68 road win at the University of Dubuque on Saturday afternoon.

BVU scored eight of the game's first 10 points and lead 23-11 after the first quarter. The lead extended to as many as 14 points at the start of the second following a layup from McKenna Cone with 90 seconds gone by. It remained a double-digit cushion until the Spartans rolled off seven straight to get within five midway through but back-to-back buckets from Cone and freshman Tyme Boettcher ended the drought and helped lift BVU to a 35-29 halftime lead.

The Spartans kept chipping away to begin the second half and gained their first lead of the game at 41-40 before building their largest at 45-42 with 2:38 left in the third. After the Beavers had moved back in front, Dubuque got a friendly bounce at the buzzer to send the game to the fourth tied at 48-48.

Junior Madalynn Hilgendorf began the final stanza with one of three BVU three-point buckets in the quarter before she and Cone nailed back-to-back treys to make it a 60-50 advantage at the 6:41 mark. An 8-2 spurt by the Spartans closed the gap to 62-58 with under four minutes to play, and they late clawed with 66-64 with 1:25 left but a big layup from junior Jenna Hallock put the Beavers back in front by four. Dubuque then missed a pair of free-throws before Hilgendorf converted 1-of-2 at the other end for the Beavers with 25 seconds left to make it a five-point cushion. After a bucket by the Spartans, junior Danika Demers stepped to the free-thorw line and knocked down a pair of big free-throws to bump it back up to a five-point lead at 71-66 with only 16 seconds remaining.

A quick bucket from Dubuque made it 71-68 and after freshman Bradi Krager missed on a pair of free-throws to give the Spartans one final chance. Krager, however, came back on the defensive end to block three-point attempt as time expired.

Krager was one of four starters to score in double figures for the Beavers, finishing with 10 points and five rebounds. Demers also scored 10 and dished out four assists. Boettcher led all scorers with 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds with Hilgendorf turning in 16 for the second straight outing to go along with four rebounds and a pair of assists.

Buena Vista shot better than 60 percent in both the first and four quarters and was 51.1 percent from the game. It made 6-of-14 attempts from downtown but made just 19-of-27 from the free-throw line. Defensively, the Beavers held Dubuque to only 3-of-16 from long range and 40.6 percent from the field overall. The Spartans also struggled from the line, making only 13-of-20.

Dubuque stayed in the game by grabbing 18 offensive rebounds which led to 14 second chance points. The Spartans (9-12, 6-6 A-R-C) held a 41-27 advantage on the glass. Morgan Hawkins turned in a double-double with 15 points and 12 boards to lead the way.

Buena Vista notches consecutive conference wins since it rolled off three straight late in the 2021-22 campaign. BVU is now 8-13 overall (3-9 A-R-C) and hosts Loras College (8-13, 5-7 A-R-C) on Feb. 12 at 5:30 p.m.