Feb. 24, 2007

LIBERTY, Mo. - After trailing by 14 points at halftime against the NAIA Div. II No. 6-ranked William Jewell College Lady Cardinals, the Benedictine College Lady Ravens limited the Lady Cardinals to just 19 percent from the floor in the second half and just 15 points as the earned the comeback win, 61-55.

"Our defensive intensity effort (in the second half) was a key," said Lady Ravens head coach Chad Folsom. "Each player took pride in the chance to prove they could shut down their player. "They proved to themselves (Friday) that they can play that kind of defense."

The game started off with the Lady Ravens (22-9) pounding ball inside to center Leah Stuhlsatz against the undersized Lady Cardinals post players. As quickly as the Lady Ravens got their advantage, the Lady Cardinals took it away and started to take fire from the perimeter.

Jewell turned a five-point deficit into a 10-point advantage in a matter of minutes.

By halftime, Jewell had the Lady Ravens on the ropes, holding a 14-point advantage, 40-26.

In the second half, the Lady Ravens stepped up their defensive intensity which led to some quick baskets on offense.

Courtney Edmonds and Nicole Reilly combined to score seven straight points for the Lady Ravens at the start of the half to cut into their halftime deficit.

"We came out of the gates quick in the second half," Coach Folsom said. "We scored seven straight and got them on their hills. "Defensively, we took away the 3-pointer and cut down their penetration."

BC held Jewell to one 3-pointer in the first eight minutes of the second half which not only allowed them to cut into the halftime score, it gave the Lady Ravens their first lead since the 15:00 mark of the first half.

Jewell kept pace with the Lady Ravens after BC took the lead and battled back to tie the game at 49-all with six minutes left in the game.

From that point, the Lady Ravens took the lead for good as they held Jewell to just six more points the rest of the game.

Defensively, the Lady Ravens limited Jewell to 5 of 26 from the floor in the second half, after the Lady Cardinals converted 14 of 26 from the floor in the first half.

BC hit 41 percent from the floor, which included a 5 of 13 3-point shooting effort in the second half.

Edmonds was the Lady Ravens leading scorer with a game-high 16 points. Stuhlsatz finished with 15 while Reilly chipped in with 13 points.

Friday night's come-from-behind win was the second in the last three days for the Lady Ravens as they opened tournament play Wednesday against Culver-Stockton College.

After fighting back from an early seven-point deficit Wednesday at home, the Lady Ravens held the Lady Wildcats scoreless for the final eight minutes of the first half and never looked back as they moved on to their game against Jewell.

Against Culver-Stockton, BC battled back to take their second lead of the game around the 8:30 mark of the first half when Stuhlsatz converted a pass in the paint from Reilly. The basket combined with the ensueing free throw gave the Lady Ravens a 17-15 lead.

Seconds later, CSC tied the game at 17-all but then the Lady Ravens stepped up their defense and held the Lady Wildcats scoreless for the remaining eight minutes of the first half to take a 32-17 lead in the half.

CSC finally broke their scoreless drought, scoring the first two points of the second half to close BC's lead to 13 points.

Three straight baskets from Edmonds and Abby Winder gave the Lady Ravens their largest lead of the game, 45-25, with just under 17 minutes to play.

The Lady Wildcats went on a 9-0 run over a three-minute span that cut the Lady Ravens lead from 15 points to six with four minutes left in the game.

Once again, the Lady Ravens defense stepped up and held CSC to just two more points the rest of the game as they moved on to the semifinals of the HAAC tournament with a 16-point win.

Edmonds led the Lady Ravens with 15 points while Winder and Reilly chipped in with 10 points each. Stuhlsatz finished with 9 points to round out the top scorers for BC.

The Lady Ravens two straight wins puts them in position for a return trip to the NAIA Div. II National Tournament in Sioux City, Iowa, later in March.

To get there, the Lady Ravens will have to knock off nationally ranked MidAmerica Nazarene University.

MNU hosts the tournament championship game at 7 p.m. Monday in Olathe.

The game will be the second straight year that the two teams will meet up in the HAAC championship game.