DUBUQUE, IA—After a defensive first quarter that saw the No. 10 Wartburg Knights trailing by four, the Knights opened American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) action with a 69-58 win over the University of Dubuque Spartans.

The Knights made 12 shots from beyond the arc, nearly matching a season best (13) to start the A-R-C schedule 1-0.

How It Happened

Scoring the opening six points for the Knights, Jaedon Murphy (9-of-15) missed only one shot in her opening four shots for the Knights. The Knights, on a three-pointer by Zoey Long, extended the lead to six, the largest in the quarter. The Spartans defense held the Knights at nine points for nearly five minutes, taking a late 11-9 lead. Britney Young and Murphy connected for the Knights final basket of the first quarter as the Spartans ended the quarter with four unanswered points.

Connecting with a pass from Sara Faber (2 assists), Young made three straight three-pointers over 1:31 in the second quarter as the Knights took a 22-16 lead. It was all about the three-pointers and Maggie Wilkins got that note, catching the ball from Brea Dillavou for back-to-back three pointers. Hannah Anderson got in on the three-point fun, adding the final three-pointer of the first half for the Knights with two minutes left to play. The Knights held off a late charge by the Spartans, taking a six-point lead into the break.

Anderson created an old-fashioned three-point play, opening the Knights scoring in the second half. The Spartans hit back-to-back shots, bringing the score within two. The teams battled throughout the early part of the third quarter as the Spartans took a one-point lead at 41-40. Putting the Knights in the lead with a pair of free throws by Wilkins, the Knights would be tied with the Spartans one final time in the third quarter. Long, who was 4-of-10 from behind the arc, collected a second-chance basket, hitting a three-pointer with 2:22 left in the third quarter.

After the Spartans came within one at the end of the third quarter, the Knights opened the final quarter of play on a 9-2 run. Young and Long teamed up, hitting back-to-back three-pointers with 40 seconds of each other as the Knights took a 13-point lead with 2:08 remaining in the game. The closing minutes were spent trading time at the free throw line as the Knights held on to with 69-58.  

Checking out the Numbers

The Knights and Spartans matched from the field, shooting 36 percent. The Knights were 25-of-69, while making 12 shots from behind the arc. The Knights were 70% from the free throw line, missing only three shots.

The Knights bench added 21 points, while the defense collected 23 points off turnovers.

Murphy led the Knights in scoring with 18 points and 6 rebounds. Young scored 15 points, making five three-pointers in the contest. Dillavou led the Knights in rebounding, collecting seven boards. 

The Spartans, going 36 percent from the field, made 21-of-58 shots. The Spartans struggled from behind the arc, making 3-of-11 shots, and shot 13-of-20 from the free throw line.

The Spartans collected 10 points off turnovers as the bench contributed 25 points in the contest.

Weekly Honors

After recording a career-high 36 points and averaging 27 points per game in competition last week, Murphy was named the A-R-C Female Athlete and Women's Basketball Player of the Week.

Next Time Out

The Knights return to Levick Arena on Dec. 1 as they host Luther College for an A-R-C game. Tip-off is slated for 5:30 p.m.

For more information on Wartburg Athletics, follow the Knights on Twitter, Instagram, like us on Facebook, or sign up for text updates/score alerts from the rainedout.net text-messaging system.