OLATHE, Kan. – The No. 22-ranked Benedictine Women’s Basketball team sealed their automatic berth into the 2014 NAIA Div. I Women’s Basketball National Championship Tournament on Monday night with a 56-49 win over No. 12 MNU inside the Cook Center on the MNU campus.

Benedictine (24-8) jumped out quickly on MNU (26-5) and weathered a second-half comeback effort by the Pioneers to earn their first win over MNU since Feb. 11, 2012 when they earned a 52-48 win

While both teams in the title game were already headed for the Independence Event Center in Independence, Mo., for the NAIA Tournament next week, by winning the Heart Tournament Championship the Ravens earned the second bid to the tournament outright.

Despite a offensive drought for roughly six minutes from near the midpoint of the second half to 4:52 left in the game, the Ravens never trailed leading the Pioneers throughout.

Jackie Ziesel stepped up when the Ravens needed it.

She slowed the scoring drought with back-to-back jumpers to push Benedictine back up by six points with 3:26 remaining. Then after MNU answered that she hit her only 3-pointer of the night to push Benedictine back up by six again.

Ali Taff, Ziesel and Chayla Rutledge combined to go 4 for 6 from the free throw line over the final 45 seconds of the game to seal the win for Benedictine.

The win by Benedictine over MNU snapped a 14-game winning streak by the Pioneers and a postseason conference winning streak of 11 straight wins for MNU.

It also gave Benedictine its second Heart Tournament Championship under head coach Chad Folsom, the first since the 2005-2006 season when they beat MNU 51-48 inside the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium.

Defensively, Benedictine held MNU to a new season-low 49 points as they held the Pioneers to just 33.9 percent from the floor on the night.

Rutledge scored a game-high 15 points as she out-dueled fellow Heart first-team selection Daria Sprew. Sprew led the Pioneers with 14 points and 16 rebounds.

For Benedictine, Lexi Villegas added 12 points off the bench while Ziesel finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

The Ravens, who take a seven-game winning streak into the NAIA Tournament, now wait for the NAIA to release the official tournament qualifiers on Wednesday afternoon. Tournament pairings will be followed by the official bracket release via selection show at 7 p.m. on the NAIAnetwork.

— BC Sports Information —