The Benedictine Women’s Basketball team closed out the first half of Heart of America Athletic Conference play on Saturday as they hosted Evangel University.

Benedictine (15-6, 8-1 Heart) outscored Evangel (4-13, 3-6 Heart) 10-6 over the final 2:41 to earn a 76-71 win.

The lead changed hands 14 times through the course of play on Saturday.

Benedictine built as much as a nine-point lead early in the first half only to have that erased as Evangel pulled even at 32-all at halftime.

The Ravens lead throughout the entire first half playing through two ties. They converted on 12 field goals while Evangel converted on 13.

Evangel started the second half hot on offense, building a five-point lead before Benedictine’s Chayla Rutledge regained the lead for the Ravens at 42-41 with 15:50 remaining.

The five-point advantage would prove to be Evangel’s largest lead of the game as the game continued to go back and forth.

A 3-pointer from Jordan Kramer with 37 seconds extended Benedictine’s lead to five points and then Jackie Ziesel converted 4 of 4 from the charity stripe inside the final 23 seconds to seal the win for the Ravens.

Rutledge led the Ravens with 21 points while Ziesel chipped in 16 while going 6 for 6 from the free throw line. Kramer and Jayde Reid each scored nine points to round out the Ravens top scorers.

Benedictine begins the second half of their Heart schedule on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. as they travel to Peru, Neb., to take on Peru State College. Benedictine opened the Heart season with a 66-49 win at home over Peru State.

— BC Sports Information —