WAVERLY, Iowa - Wartburg women's basketball will begin its journey to a fifth straight American Rivers Conference championship on Saturday, Jan. 23 when it heads to Lincoln, Neb. to take on Nebraska Wesleyan University at 11 a.m. to begin the A-R-C schedule. The Knights have won 14 of the last 15 games against the Prairie Wolves including 11 straight victories. 

Saturday, Jan. 23 - 11:00 a.m. - Lincoln, Neb. - Snyder Arena
Wartburg Knights (4-0, 0-0 A-R-C) vs. Nebraska Wesleyan University (0-0, 0-0 A-R-C) 

Series Record: Wartburg leads 14-1
Last Five Meetings: 
Jan. 25, 2020 -- W, 107-46 (Lincoln)
Dec. 14, 2019 -- W, 108-68 (Waverly)
Feb. 9, 2019 -- W, 95-56 (Waverly)
Jan. 12, 2019 -- W, 86-55 (Lincoln) 
Feb. 10, 2018 -- W, 99-83 (Waverly) 

Attendance Policy 
Two people per participant (including student-athletes and coaches) will be permitted to attend basketball home events inside Snyder Arena. Seating for spectators will be available in the west bleachers. Each participant will be allowed to include two people on the pass list for each competition.  Spectators on the pass list will need to provide an ID to enter the Weary Center.

SPECTATORS WILL BE REQUIRED TO FOLLOW CAMPUS MASKING AND SOCIAL DISTANCING GUIDELINES. LEARN MORE HERE.

Last Time Out
The Knights secured its fourth consecutive victory on Tuesday, Jan. 19 when it defeated the University of Dubuque 81-36 inside Levick Arena. With the win the Knights pushed their winning streak against the Spartans to 13 straight. 

Wartburg stormed out of the gate as it jumped out to a 14-0 lead to begin the contest. The Knights defense was on full display forcing 10 turnovers in the first period and held Dubuque to just three points on 12.5% shooting from the field.The Knights went into halftime with a comfortable 36-11 lead and grew on that advantage in the second half before taking the victory. 

Senior forward Payton Draper recorded a game-high 15 points and shot 55% from the field. Senior forward Kaitlyn Volesky and freshman guard Sara Faber also reached double figures in scoring with 10 and 11 points, respectively. Volesky and senior guard Ally Conrad each ripped down a team-high five rebounds. Conrad and freshman guard Britney Young were the key distributors for the Knights as both tallied four assists in the contest. Sophomore guard Maddy Schuchmann earned a career-high eight points off the bench. 

Defensively, the Knights forced 32 turnovers on 13 steals and four blocks. Wartburg capitalized on those mistakes as they held a 35-12 advantage on points off of turnovers. The Orange and Black held the Spartans to a season-low 36 points and Dubuque finished the contest 29.2% from the field and 16.7% from 3-point land. The points in the paint heavily favored the Knights as they held a 38-18 advantage down low. 

Nebraska Wesleyan University
The contest against Wartburg will be Nebraska Wesleyan's first game of the year as it finished the 2019-20 campaign with a 7-17 overall and 3-13 A-R-C record. The Prairie Wolves averaged 73.1 points per game a year ago and had a -14.9 scoring margin. NWU shot the ball at a 40.2% clip from the field, 32.3% from long range and 68% from the charity stripe. 

The Prairie Wolves lost their top three scorers from last year's roster and their top returning scorer is junior guard Jazmine Glenn who logged an average of 6.9 points per contest. Junior forward Sami Tucker will lead the bigs as she is the best returning rebounder with an average of 4.1 boards last season. 

To say Nebraska Wesleyan is a young team might be an understatement as the roster is without any seniors and is comprised of five freshmen and four juniors. Head coach Sam Dixon returns for his fourth year at the helm and has totaled a record of 33-42 at the university.