The top moment of this past school year at Central was a victory 20 years in the making. On March 9th, the Dutch women’s basketball team hosted Dubuque in the quarterfinal round of the American Rivers Conference Tournament, defeating the Spartans 57-48, as aired on KRLS3. It was the first conference tournament win for the program since 2001, when Head Coach Joe Steinkamp was a student at the college.

Central’s tourney run was looking like a short one for much of the night as the Dutch offense was stymied. Central shot an icy 18.2% from the field in the first quarter and finished at 21.6% for the night. But Dubuque (6-7) was kept under wraps as well in the physical contest, hitting just 25.0% from the floor.

Central trailed 27-22 at intermission and 40-35 after three periods but outscored the Spartans 22-8 in the last quarter.

Head Coach Joe Steinkamp says his team kept fighting and was resilient.

Central had 17 points from guard Maci Gambell and a career-high 18 rebounds from forward Payton Rogers. Guard Emily Hay had 11 points, eight rebounds and six steals while guard Carson Fisk had 10 points and seven rebounds. Forward Sami Craig had five steals. The Dutch fell to Simpson in the semifinal round at Simpson two nights later.

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