The Benedictine women’s basketball team outscored Graceland University 22-7 on Thursday night in second-chance points.
It was their final second-chance effort of the night from Katie Barr with two seconds remaining in the game that allowed Benedictine (17-10, 9-6 HAAC) to seal a 83-79 win over Graceland (11-11, 7-8 HAAC).
After leading by as much as 13-points in the second half, the Ravens went cold offensively over the final nine minutes of the game which allowed Graceland to pull within a basket inside the final minute of the game.
Graceland’s Sydney Vaughn converted a pair of free throws with two mintues and 21 seconds left in the game to cut Benedictine’s lead to 78-77.
After a free throw from Rosie Youngstrom pushed the Ravens back up by two points, the teams traded baskets setting up Barr’s game-clincher in the final seconds.
Benedictine used a 15-2 run to turn a 2-2 game into a 13-point lead inside the first six minutes of the game.
After pulling ahead by as much as 15 points, Benedictine’s offense cooled off while Graceland’s took fire.
Fueled by a 66.7 percent 3-point shooting effort in the first half, Graceland not only erased their 15-point deficit, they pull ahead of Benedictine, 32-29, with just over six minutes left in the first half.
By halftime, Benedictine trailed 46-44 but it didn’t take the Ravens long in the second half to take back over the lead.
Just 13 seconds ticked off the second half clock with Rosie Youngstrom nailed a 3-pointer to push the Ravens back in front.
Benedictine used a 20-8 run to push ahead by 13 before Graceland mounted their comeback effort.
Chayla Rutledge scored a new season high for the Ravens, finishing with 27 points and 10 rebounds. Benedictine controlled the paint, outscoring Graceland 38-16 in the paint.
Justice Payne added 16 points while Jackie Ziesel scored 12 points off the Benedictine bench. Erin Murphy added 10 points to bring her career point total to 989 points with three games remaining. Barr missed a double-double by two points, finishing with 8 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
The Ravens hit the road for a rare Sunday afternoon conference match up as they travel to Marshall, Mo., for a 2 p.m. game against Missouri Valley College. The game was pushed to Sunday due to a scheduling conflict at Missouri Valley as they play host to one of the NAIA regional wrestling tournaments on Saturday.
— BC Sports Information —