For the first time since 2005, the Central women’s basketball team will play in a conference tournament game tonight. It’s a major milestone for a program that continues to make strides under third-year head coach Joe Steinkamp. The 6th-seed Dutch will make the trip to Decorah to take on 3rd-seeded Luther, a team they split with in the regular season. When the teams played in Decorah in January, it was Central’s worst offensive performance of the season. But when Luther visited Kuyper Gymnasium, the Dutch were able to come from behind for a major upset victory. Steinkamp knows this is a much-improved team than their previous trip to Luther, and it’ll take a similar formula as their victory two weeks ago to take two out of three from the Norse.

“We think we’re a lot better team than when we went up there in January, obviously. But with them, handling their press is the number one thing, to be able to limit their easy basket that they get with their press. And then offensive rebounds I think is big, they’re very aggressive going to the offensive glass. And then if we can limit their second chance points, I think that will be huge.”

The Dutch have not beaten Luther on the road since 2014, and this year’s Central win snapped an 11-game losing streak in the series. Tonight’s game tips off at 7:00 p.m. inside the Regents Center on the Luther College campus in Decorah. The winner advances to Thursday’s semifinal round at Loras.