Dwight's Career-High 25 Points Not Enough Against Coe
Jan 9, 2019
The duo of Kia Dwight and Morgan Meerstein both finished with career highs in scoring on Wednesday evening.
Dwight on her birthday finished with 25 points and Meerstein finished with 11 points off the bench.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The University of Dubuque women's basketball team got career-high's in points from Kia Dwight and Morgan Meerstein on Wednesday night, but it was not enough as the Spartans fell to the Coe College Kohawks, 78-64.
The Kohawks put the Spartans in a quick 11-3 hole in the opening four minutes, but after two minutes of scoreless action from both teams UD began their run and trailed by just two after the first quarter.
Coe once again pushed their lead back up to nine points, this time at the midway point of the second quarter. UD closed the second quarter on an 11-2 run over the final 4:42 and got two three’s in the final 47 seconds from Kia Dwight to pull even at 33-33 heading into halftime. It was the first time the score had been tied sine 0-0. Kia Dwight had just over half of UD’s first half points with 16, as she had a scorching first half on her birthday, connecting on all three, first half three’s that she attempted. Jaden Kelley added eight points in the half to combine with Dwight for two-thirds of the Spartans first half points.
The two team’s traded three pointers over the first 3:20 of the second half to keep the game tied but back-to-back threes in a 20 second span for the Kohawks began their quest to pull away and led the Spartans by nine after three quarters.
The Spartans failed to score on the opening possession of the fourth quarter and the Kohawks sank two free throws to move ahead 59-48, the first double digit lead by either team. The Spartans were only able to get back into a single digit deficit one more time and Coe expanded their lead to as many to 21 points. The Spartans closed the game on a 7-0 run over the final 2:52 but the run began too late and the final horn sounded with the Spartans falling 78-64.
After 16 first half points, Kia Dwight finished with a career-high 25 points, the most points by a Spartan in a game since Feb. 18th, 2017. Dwight also dished out a team-high five assists. Morgan Meerstein also set a career-high for points on Wednesday night, as she had eight of her 11 points in the second half. Jaden Kelly was the third and final Spartan to reach double figures in scoring with 10. McKenzie Maahs hauled in 10 of UD’s 37 rebounds, including four on the offensive end.
For the game, UD actually outshot Coe at 40.3% to 37.0% but Coe had 11 more shot attempts after outrebound the Spartans 52-37 and doubled up the Spartans from three point land, making 15 to UD’s seven.
The Spartans return home for a conference tilt against the Buena Vista Beavers on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. in the Stoltz Sports Center.
