It didn't take coach Jerry Nikkel long to dissect the Central College women's basketball team's 68-40 loss to Grand View Univ. Saturday.

"We just could not put the ball in the basket," Nikkel said.

The Dutch connected on just 14 of 67 shots from the floor (20.9 percent) and were 3-of-18 on 3-point attempts.

"It wasn't just one person, it was everybody," Nikkel said. "Nobody had a good shooting game. You're just not going to win games scoring 40 points on your home court."

Central (3-8) tied the game 14-14 with 11:37 left in the first half, then was outscored 22-6 and trailed 36-20 at intermission. Over an 11-minute stretch of the first and second halves, the Dutch mustered just four points.

Forwards Alyssa Schwartz and Haley Brillhart each had eight points while Brillhart was Central's top rebounder with seven. Grand View (5-10), which shot 37.9 percent, outrebounded Central, 58-43. The Vikings' Jennifer Jorgensen had 13 points and 17 rebounds.

"Give (Grand View) credit," Nikkel said. "They played well. But I don't think defensively we were forced into all those missed shots. We just made bad decisions and had poor shot selection."

Nikkel said the Dutch showed the effects of a long week of final exams.

"You could tell we haven't practiced," he said.

The Dutch players depart for Christmas break but will return in about 10 days to prepare for the remainder of the Iowa Conference slate, starting with a Jan. 5 women's-men's doubleheader at Luther College in Decorah.