It was not the way the Central basketball teams wanted to end their regular season. Dubuque handled both Dutch squads in the 25th and final game of the year. The Dutch women held a 13 – 12 advantage after the first, and only trailed by four at the intermission, but Central scored just 21 points in the second half in total in their 62 – 52 loss. Free throws hurt Central, as they had many opportunities, but converted just 11 of their 21 attempts. Claire Marburger scored a game-high 25 points to put an exclamation point on her record-break freshman season. Marburger set the record in the first half versus Loras on Wednesday for most points scored by a Central freshman. The women finish the year at 4 – 21 overall. Central’s men came out hot but Dubuque’s defense stifled them in a 67 – 57 Spartan victory. The Dutch shot 44% from the field in the first half, but went just 9-for-26 in the second half and only made four three-pointers in the game. Colby Taylor scored 22 points in the loss. The men wind up with the No. 5 seed in the Iowa Conference tournament, which starts on Tuesday, and will send Central back to Dubuque to face Loras in the first round at 7:00 p.m.

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