The Central College basketball teams hosted Loras College in their first American Rivers Conference games of 2026 on Wednesday and struggled through a pair of losses. The Duhawks’ women’s squad got out to a fast start to defeat the Dutch 72-43, while the conference-leading Loras men’s team defeated Central 90-60 in the nightcap.

In the women’s game, Loras outscored Central 27-10 in the first quarter, firing on all cylinders offensively while limiting the space allowed defensively. Although their offense came back down to earth in the second quarter, the Duhawk defense remained a force to be reckoned with, and the Dutch found themselves trailing 42-19 at halftime. Central was more comfortable coming out of the half, outscoring Loras 17-16 in the third quarter, but it wasn’t enough to mount a comeback. Maddie Backer led the way offensively for the Dutch with 11 points on 4-7 shooting from the field. On the other side of the ball, Lydia Smith recorded a team high two steals, while Emily Naughton recorded two blocks. CeCe Moore led the way on the glass with five rebounds.

The Dutch men got off to a hot start in the nightcap, jumping out to an early 16-7 lead before Loras answered with a run of their own to put them up 19-16. Following the Loras 12-0 run, the two teams traded blows for the majority of the first half, before Loras rattled off a 13-6 run in the final five minutes to take a 41-34 lead into halftime. The momentum carried over into the second half for the Duhawks, as they opened with a 7-0 run in the first three minutes to extend their lead to 14 points and never looked back. While Central was able to briefly stop the bleeding, Loras outscored Central 49-26 over the final 20 minutes of the game to secure the 30-point win. Kyle Cason was Central’s leading scorer with 14 points, while also recording a career-high three steals. Grant Uecker led the Dutch in both rebounds (9) and assists (4), while also recording one of the team’s two blocks.

The Central basketball teams travel to Decorah on Saturday for another conference doubleheader at Luther College, and coverage of the twin bill can be heard live on 92.1 KRLS beginning at 1:45 pm.