The Kirkwod women's basketball team was twice as good in the first half Wednesday night than it was in the second half, but the Eagles were still plenty good enough to handle DMACC at Johnson Hall.

The fourth-ranked Eagles poured in 48 points in the opening stanza and tailed off to 24 points in the second half, but it added up to a convincing 72-57 victory over the 10th-ranked Bears in a conference game.

Kirkwood (15-4, 2-0) opened a 25-point lead and cruised to victory.

"I thought we played really well," said Kirkwood Coach Kim Muhl. "The kids hit shots and played with a lot of energy."

Muhl was a little miffed by some of his team's quick shots in the final minutes with a big lead, but overall he was happy to get an important victory over a quality opponent.

"We outplayed them," he said. "We should have beat them by 30.

"I think we got tired," said Muhl. "I think part of it is, we hadn't played in 14 days. For not playing for 14 days, I thought we did some nice things."

Kirkwood was scheduled to open the conference season at Iowa Lakes this past Saturday, but the Lakers forfeited that game due to turmoil and attrition in the program. The Eagles were credited with a victory, but were disappointed to have the game canceled.

"It was really difficult," said Muhl. "It's unfortunate for our league."

Iowa Lakes has named a new coach and plans to resume the season, including a scheduled date at Kirkwood later in the year.

The Eagles came out on fire Wednesday night. Madison Wood scored seven points in the first two minutes and Casey Miles drilled a pair of 3-pointers as the Eagles raced to an early 17-2 lead.

DMACC (13-3, 1-1) never recovered as Kirkwood zoomed to a 48-28 bulge at halftime after leading by as many as 25 points in the stanza.

Kirkwood point guard A.J. Downs suffered a calf injury with 4:01 left in the first half and did not return to action. Her absence contributed to the Eagles scoring only 24 points in the second half, but the outcome was never in doubt.

"I think the first 20 minutes were pretty solid," said Caitlin Sudduth, who led Kirkwood with 16 points and seven rebounds off the bench. "We have to play that way the whole game and not be up and down."

Downs might miss Kirkwood's next game on Saturday, but the injury is not believed to be severe.

Wood finished with 13 points and five rebounds for the Eagles. Miles and Cyerra Hutchins added 10 points apiece to a balanced attack. Deleyah Harris collected eight assists and Dominique Jennings scored eight points.

"I like who we are," said Muhl after getting contributions from 11 different players.

Kiana Peterson led DMACC with 12 points.

DMACC (57): Geopfert 1 0-3 2, Dean 3 1-2 9, Pretz 2 3-4 8, Peterson 4 0-2 12, Vais 2 5-5 9, McAtee 0 0-0 0, Cartney 3 0-1 8, Knittel 2 1-1 5, Brown 0 0-2 0, Agoth 2 0-0 4, Hughes 0 0-0 0, Meehan 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 10-20 57.

KIRKWOOD (72): Harris 0 2-2 2, Miles 3 1-2 10, Downs 1 0-0 2, Hutchins 4 0-0 10, Wood 5 3-4 13, Wheatly 0 0-0 0, Oberman 30-0 6, Sudduth 6 2-2 16, Voss 1 1-2 3, Jennings 4 0-0 8. Totals 28 9-12 72.

Halftime - Kirkwood 48, DMACC 28. 3-point goals - DMACC 9 (Peterson 4,Dean 2, Cartney 2, Pretz 1), Kirkwood 7 (Miles 3, Hutchins 2, Sudduth 2).