(Peru, Neb.)—The Peru State women's basketball team struggled against Culver-Stockton on Saturday afternoon as they fell, 94-54, to the Wildcats. The Bobcats are now 7-13 overall and 3-11 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play while the Wildcats are now 14-6 overall and 9-5 in conference play.
 
Below is a breakdown of how the game went…
 
It was all Wildcats early on as they jumped out to an 11-2 lead in the first quarter with under five minutes remaining. The Bobcats cut the lead down to seven trailing, 13-6, after a layup from Maddy Duncan (Hamburg, Iowa).
 
The Wildcats would head into the second quarter of play with a commanding 19-8 lead. Culver-Stockton would not take its foot off the gas in the second quarter as they started on a 7-2 run to take a 26-10 lead.
 
Peru State responded with a mini 6-2 run of its own as the Bobcats now only trailed by 12, 28-16, after  Natasha Deal (Winnebago) made a jumper. Unfortunately, the Bobcats only scored one more point in the half as the Wildcats finished the quarter on a 10-1 run taking a 38-17 lead into halftime.
 
Culver-Stockton opened up the third quarter on a 20-5 run to take a huge 58-22 lead with three minutes left in the third. Sam Stewart (Mount Ayr, Iowa) stopped the bleeding with a layup but the Wildcats kept the pedal to the metal as they took a 40 point, 68-28, lead heading into the fourth quarter.
 
Peru State opened the fourth quarter on an 8-3 run to make the score 71-36. Contributing to the run were baskets by Deal, Danielle Howard (Uniontown, Kan.) and Kaylan Larry (Little Rock, Ark.).
 
Culver-Stockton then went on a 9-1 run to take a 80-38 lead with around six and a half minutes to play. The Bobcats then went on a 5-0 run as they now trailed 80-43 after an Olivia Williams (Minneapolis, Minn.) three.
 
Unfortunately, the deficit was just too much to overcome for the Bobcats as they fell to the Wildcats for the second time this season.
 
Peru State shot 23-of-71 from the floor shooting 32.4%, 1-of-14 from beyond the arc shooting 7.1% and 7-of-10 from the charity stripe shooting 70%.
 
Culver-Stockton shot 33-of-68 from the field shooting 50.8%, 9-of-16 from three shooting 56.3% and 19-of-34 from the free throw line shooting 55.9%.
 
Culver-Stockton outscored Peru State in the paint 36-34, 15-9 in points off turnovers and Peru State outscored Culver-Stockton 41-35 in bench points.
 
Williams led the way in scoring with 14 points, Deal finished with 12 and Stewart put in 10. Julie Miller (Easton, Kan.) had a team high six rebounds and Hailey Ingram (Omaha), Larry and Williams tied for the lead in assists with two each.
 
Peru State faces Grand View next at home on Wednesday, January 25. Tip-Off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.