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SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Kendra Cook scored a career-high 24 points and Karli Harris added 19 as the second seed Davenport women's basketball team opened up the NAIA Division II Tournament with a 96-59 win over College of Saint Mary Thursday morning.
 
The Lady Panthers (31-2) advance to the second round and will take on sixth seed Cardinal Stritch in a rematch from game one of the season Friday at 9:30 a.m. ET. The Wolves, who lost to Davenport 78-66 in November, advanced to the second round after upsetting No. 3 Concordia (Neb.) 66-60 prior to the Davenport-Saint Mary contest.
 
Harris also scored the four points she needed to become the 11^th Lady Panther to reach 1,000 points a career. Alex Law had a perfect day as the freshman went a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc for 12 points. Tiesha Stokes also continued to be a factor off the bench as the Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference Co-Newcomer of the Year scored 11 points and led the team on the boards with seven.
 
Emily Nielsen and Cook launched the Panthers to a 5-0 lead with 18:48, but the Flames (25-9) would play cat-and-mouse until a 5-0 run gave it the first and only lead in the period.
 
Davenport caught some momentum when Karli Harris and Cook combined for seven points to establish a 24-19 lead with 7:40 lead. The Flames would continue to chase the Panthers until Harris' 3-pointer, Tiesha Stokes' layup followed by six-straight points by Cook set up an 11-0 run. Alex Law would close out the half with a 3-pointer as DU headed into the locker room with a 42-29 lead, the largest deficit in the half.
 
Harris and Cook combined for 25 points in the half. They also led a Panther team that shot .467 in the opening period.
 
Post-Game Quotes –
 
Head Coach Mike Williams
 
On the team's performance – “I think we looked a little tired. I told our players I might need a conditioning coach because it looked like we got passed out there about five minutes into the game. I think a lot of it is nervous energy. The nice thing is for us this year a Davenport team is there are a lot of new faces who haven't played (at the tournament). There was a lot of excited and nervous energy, which I think is good.
 
On Cardinal Stritch in the second round – “They know us, we know them. I don't know if it is a good or bad thing that we won the game, probably a bad thing because they probably got their horns up for us. There is a lot of familiarity after that first game.”
 
Junior Center Kendra Cook
 
On her first NAIA Tournament game – “It was fun. There was a lot of nervous energy. We walked out there under the bright lights and everything that comes along with it. It took us a little bit to get into our groove but I thought we finally worked things out, found each other and played well together.”
 
On her season-high 24 points – “I can't take any credit for that, those girls have seen me all season. They just happen to see me a little bit more in this game, so I can't take credit for that.”
 
Post-Game Notes
Davenport improves to 10-8 in the NAIA Division II Tournament…Davenport has been shooting 45 percent or better from the floor in nine of the last 10 games…Davenport wins the inaugural meeting against College of Saint Mary...It was a career day for Emily Nielsen as the senior notched six assists and recorded four steals against the Flames.
 
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