Women's Basketball Drops Season Opener at Central

The Monmouth College women's basketball team opened their 2024-25 season with a 90-49 road loss at Central College on November 9.

Central jumped out to a 10-0 lead before Allie Hoy (Woodland, Illinois) made a free throw with 5:24 to go in the first. Ashley Jones (Abingdon, Illinois) made two free throws and Averi Rangel (Moline, Illinois) knocked down a shot in the paint to cut Central's lead to 12-5. Kynlee Stearns (Gilson, Illinois) scored four points and Ella Goodrich (Minonk, Illinois) made a bucket as the Dutch led 19-11 after one.

Jones scored Monmouth's first three points of the second quarter and Goodrich hit a pair of free throws with Central up 33-16. Jones scored again and Madi Finch (Aledo, Illinois) scored four in a row. Jones scored again and Brooklyn Sellers (Freeport, Illinois) hit her first Monmouth bucket for a 36-26 Central lead. The Dutch scored the final four points of the half for a 40-26 lead.

Stearns scored Monmouth's first three points of the second half and Olivia Dinges (Amboy, Illinois) added a bucket, Central pushed the lead to 20 at 53-33 and then went on an 8-2 run before Jones scored in the paint. Finch scored Monmouth's last bucket of the quarter as Central led 69-40.

Down 30, Rangel hit Monmouth's first 3-pointer of the game and Kiersten Cox (Illinois City, Illinois) scored for a 74-45 game. Stearns scored and freshman Ava Borchardt (Harvard, Illinois) got her first collegiate bucket with 2;37 to play as Central finished on a 16-4 run to win 90-49.

Stearns led the way with 13 points while Jones finished with 11. Goodrich and Sellers both had six rebounds. Hoy led the Scots with three steals while Stearns had two. Goodrich had Monmouth's only block,

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Sellers, Borchardt and Makenzie Yarc (Poplar Grove, Illinois) all made their Monmouth debuts ... Sellers and Yarc are transfers while Borchardt is the lone freshman on the roster ... The Scots played all 12 players who were available and 10 of them scored ... Monmouth shot 46% from the field in the third quarter, their best stretch of the game ... Central leads the all-time series 5-3 ... The teams had not met since the 2018-19 season and MOnmouth's last trip to Pella was Dec. 2016 ... The Scots will play at home on Friday against Westminster with a 7:30 p.m. start ... The next three games are at home on Nov. 15, Nov 16 and Nov 20.