The Culver-Stockton College women's basketball team suffered a 68-61 Heart of America Athletic Conference loss to 17th-ranked Grand View University at the Charles Johnson Wellness Center in Des Moines, Iowa, Saturday afternoon.

The loss drops the Wildcats into a tie with Graceland University for the eighth and final playoff spot for the upcoming conference postseason tournament with four games remaining in the regular season.

C-SC owns the tie-breaker by virtue of their victory over the Yellowjackets earlier this season at Charles Field House. The two teams are slated to meet again in Lamoni, Iowa, on Feb. 21.

Against Grand View, the Wildcats battled back from a 24-15 first quarter deficit and pulled to within 33-39 at the intermission. However, the Vikings outscored C-SC 23-12 in the third quarter to build a 56-41 advantage and then did just enough in the fourth quarter to keep the Wildcats at a safe distance.

Grand View drained 14 3-pointers in the game, marking the most allowed by the Wildcats this season. The Wildcats shot 50 percent from the field, bit managed to attempt just 46 shots, which was a season-low.

Nevaiah Bell-Tenner scored a team-high 18 points to lead the Wildcats. Addison Newbon came off the bench to notch 14 points. Bell-Tenner and Newbon each grabbed six rebounds, while Aaliyah Ortiz dished out six assists.

The Wildcats, now 9-15 overall and 8-12 in the Heart, is scheduled to start its final homestand of the season Wednesday night, Feb. 14, against Mount Mercy University at Charles Field House. Game time is set for 5:30 p.m.

GAME NOTES:

• The Wildcats totaled 29 total rebounds in the game. Four of those rebounds were of the offensive variety, a season-low for the Wildcats.
• Grand View was 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the game. The four free throws made tied a season-low by a Wildcat opponent. The four attempts was a season low by a C-SC opponent.
• The 34 3-point attempts by Grand View were a season-high for an opponent of the Wildcats.