Women's Basketball Falls at Home to No. 24 MidAmerica Nazarene

Marshall, Mo., (Dec. 4, 2024)- The Missouri Valley College men's and women's basketball teams hosted MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) in a Heart of America Athletic Conference doubleheader Wednesday evening inside the Burns Athletic Complex.  The Viking women's team suffered an 89-57 defeat to the No. 24 Pioneers, while the men's team fell in the final moments, 65-63.

The women's game started with MidAmerica Nazarene outscoring Missouri Valley by a 6-2 margin with four minutes played in the contest.  Senior Rajone Callahan (Wichita, Kan.) followed with a field goal moments later, but MVC was kept scoreless over a nearly three-minute stretch to trail, 17-4.  Sophomore Ricarda Schott (Krefeld, Germany) ended the Viking drought with a pair of layups past the three-minute mark to trim the deficit down to 17-8.  The Pioneers added to their lead through the rest of the quarter, with an 8-0 run, to make it a 28-8 score going into the second quarter of play.

Scoring in the second quarter started with a pair of free throws made by Freshman Lexi Fenstermacher (O'Fallon, Mo.), but the first Viking field goal came midway through play, as Freshman D'Ajha Horton (Aurora, Colo.) put in a layup as the team trailed, 37-12.  Freshman Seilani Relford (Aurora, Colo.) added a basket, and Freshman Mackenzie Mills (Kansas City, Mo.) finished out the half with one more made field goal, but MVC trailed, 46-20.

The third quarter began with MidAmerica Nazarene going on a 9-2 run through three minutes of play to make it a 55-22 score.  The Vikings were unable to cut their deficit to below 20 points through the rest of play, and eventually fell by a final score of 89-57.

Schott came off the bench to score 16 points and grab four rebounds.  Mills scored a season-high 11 points to go with six rebounds off the bench.  Relford added nine points off the bench.  The Vikings held a 43-35 advantage in rebounds.

The loss drops Missouri Valley to 8-1 overall and 5-1 in the Heart.  MidAmerica Nazarene improves to 9-2 on the season and 7-0 in the conference.

Up next, the Viking basketball teams host Mount Mercy (Iowa) in a Heart doubleheader, Saturday inside the Burns Athletic Complex.  Women's game starts at 12 p.m., followed by the men's game at 2 p.m.

Box Score-Click Here

About Missouri Valley College

Known for its dynamic, richly diverse, and friendly educational environment, Missouri Valley College offers many opportunities to grow in mind, body, and spirit. Grounded in the liberal arts, undergraduate studies empower students to master interdisciplinary skills needed to succeed in a knowledge-based global society. MVC offers over 30 academic programs, study abroad program, extracurricular activities, and a wide variety of sports. The most popular majors include education and business, criminal justice and exercise science. Above all, Valley is committed to student success. For more information, call (660) 831-4000 or visit www.moval.edu.