Briar Cliff held off a late charge by the Nebraska Wesleyan women as the Prairie Wolves fell 70-55 in a Great Plains Athletic Conference women's basketball contest on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 6) at the Flannagan Center in Sioux City, Iowa.

NWU (1-5, 0-3 GPAC) never led in the contest, but battled back from a big first half deficit. The Prairie Wolves clawed their way back to within four points with under seven minutes to play, but the Chargers (6-5, 2-1) ended the game on a 18-7 run to seal the win.

The Prairie Wolves at one point traile by 15 points with under five minutes to go in the first half, but first-year head coach Eric Jensen called a timeout and the Prairie Wolves came out inspired. NWU closed the half on a 7-2 run to get within 34-28 at halftime.

Nebraska Wesleyan also played with great effort in the second half but struggled to put the ball into the hoop. NWU shot just 30.6 percent from the floor and 2-11 from 3-point range.

However, Shea Rasmussen hit a 3-pointer at the 6:35 mark to make the score 52-48 but that was as close as the Prairie Wolves could get.

Rasmussen led NWU with 14 points with 12 coming in the second half. Katy Golden scored 12 points and Sadie Struebing added 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds. The Prairie Wolves again struggled handling the ball committing 26 total turnovers.

Briar Cliff had three players in double figures led by Liz Grider with 21 points.

NWU will return home on Tuesday (Dec. 9) to host GPAC rival Concordia University at 7:30 pm in Snyder Arena.