DECORAH, Iowa-- The No. 2/3 Wartburg women's basketball team (22-0 overall, 13-0 IIAC) repeated as the Iowa Conference Regular Season Champions in its 63-54 win over Luther (15-9, 9-4) Wednesday. This was the seventh regular season crown for the program.
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This was also the first win in Decorah for the Knights since Feb. 16, 2013.
Senior Miranda Murphy (Alleman) became the program's 15th member of the 1,000 career point club. She is the third player to accomplish this this season, as she joins Katie and Kristie Sommer. This also sets a new record, as the previous mark was two 1,000 career point members in a single season, set by Holly Mohs and Brianne Schoonover in 2002.
Murphy reached 1,000 career points on the first basket of the game. She was fouled on the shot and executed the three-point play. Murphy led all scorers with 14 points on the night.
1000 point club
1. 2146 - Kathy Roberts (109 games) - 1989-93
2. 1788 - Holly Mohs (112 games) - 1999-03
3. 1707 - Lisa Uhlenhopp (99 games) - 1988-92
4. 1491 - Lynn Dose (94 games) - 1980-84
5. 1442 - Jessica Mennen (114 games) - 2000-04
6. 1360 - Kathy Smith (95 games) - 1986-90
7. 1314 - Brianne Schoonover (109 games) - 1998-02
8. 1293- Katie Sommer (2014-present)
9. 1263 - Samantha Harrington (103 games) - 2007-11
10. 1260 - Kailey Kladivo (100 games) - 2012-16
11. 1145 - Elizabeth Campbell (101 games) - 2004-08
12. 1031 - Sharese Van Sloten (91 games) - 2005-09
13. 1016- Kristie Sommer (2014-present)
14. 1012- Miranda Murphy (2014-present)
15. 1006 - Kayah-Bah Phillmann (92 games) - 1995-99
Another interesting note is that Miranda's dad, Mike a 1989 alum, played for the men's program and also achieved 1,000 career points. He ranks seventh on their career scoring leader list with 1,409 points.
Senior Aryn Jones (Marion) joined Murphy in double digits with 13 points and classmate Morgan Neuendorf (Plainfield) had a team-best and career-high 11 rebounds.
The Norse led by one after the first quarter (12-11). The game was tied twice in the second quarter which included 15-15 with 7:42 to go. The Orange and Black compiled a 7-0 run over the next three minutes to build their margin and later took the 29-21 lead at halftime.
Luther stormed back in the fourth as it sliced the lead to one (45-44) with 8:39 remaining. Wartburg answered 14-2 run over the next four minutes to push its margin to double digits once more.
As a team, the Knights owned the advantages in all three shooting percentage categories, rebounds (41-39), and steals (5-2).
The Orange and Black return to the court Saturday when they host Nebraska Wesleyan at 2 p.m.
