All five starters scored in double figures tonight for the Buena Vista women's basketball, as the Beavers used a strong second half performance at both ends of the court en route to a thrilling 72-68 victory inside of Siebens Fieldhouse over Wartburg College (6-2, 2-1 IIAC).

The Beavers shot just 37 percent in the first half and trailed 9-3 out of the gate, but finished the half strong and took a 36-28 lead into halftime.  The team then used its strong long range shooting to its advantage in the second half, knocking down 6-of-12 attempts, while holding the Knights to only three makes from beyond the arc in the game.

BVU jumped out to a quick 10-point cushion just minutes into the second half, and after Wartburg clawed back to within four, the Beavers then used a run of their own, capped by a three-pointer from junior Brooke Wehle (Denison, Iowa/Denison-Schleswig), to go in front by 12 (58-46).

The Knights wouldn't go away and went on a 17-6 run to get as close as one at 64-63 with just more than three minutes to play.  A bucket by senior Amanda Roder (Remsen, Iowa/St. Mary's) and a pair of free-throws from sophomore Susan Kies (Fonda, Iowa/Newell-Fonda) bumped the lead up to four.

Roder again responded with a big jumper with under a minute to play to keep the margin at four, and it was the Beavers converting their free-throws down the stretch to hand Wartburg its first league loss this season.

Senior Jessica Christensen (Turin, Iowa/West Monona) turned in 14 points, on 5-of-11 shooting, for the Beavers, to go along with eight rebounds.  Fellow senior Laura Hilby (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) hit four three-pointers and Kies followed with three, and the duo finished with 13 points each.  Hilby also dished out six assists.  Roder, meanwhile, went 6-of-8 from the floor and tallied 12 points, as did Wehle, who hit a pair of shots from beyond the arc.

BVU out-rebounded the Knights, 41-37, as junior Tara Lehner (Le Mars, Iowa/Le Mars) came off the bench and grabbed eight offensive boards and a game-high 10 overall.

Leslie Wilson scored 17 points to lead Wartburg.

Buena Vista improves to 6-3 overall (2-0 IIAC) and will now be off for finals and will return to the court on December 16 when it steps out of IIAC play to travel to Knox College (Ill.) for a 5:30pm contest.