Clarke College senior guard Laura Gaylord, of  Chicago Ridge, Ill., tossed in a game-high 25 points Monday to lead the Crusaders to a 77-66 Midwest Collegiate Conference road win over Ashford University in Clinton, Iowa. Michelle Jamison added 16 points and Joquetta Rolle pulled down 10 rebounds for Coach Zareth Gray's squad, which led from start to finish.

Clarke (2-20, 1-8 MCC) built a 34-29 halftime lead. The Crusaders extended their lead to 15, 51-36, on a Gaylord three-point field goal with 11:40 remaining. Ashford twice closed the gap to one and trailed by by two with just 2:42 left, but the Crusaders went on a 9-1 spurt to built the lead back to 10. Gaylord scored all nine points in that stretch.

Kim Fabry led Ashford (8-14, 2-7 MCC) with 20 points, while Kelly Fisher added 18 points and had a game-high 13 rebounds.

Ashford owned a 49-37 advantage on the boards, but the Saints were guilty of 21 turnovers.

Clarke will host MCC rival Iowa Wesleyan College at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Robert and Ruth Kehl Center.

-CRUSADERS-