Springfield, Mo. – 22nd ranked Benedictine led Evangel women's basketball wire to wire en route to a 71-58 win over the Crusaders Saturday at the Ashcroft Center.
Evangel was in a 15-5 hole at the end of the first quarter before a second quarter run brought the Crusaders within five. Benedictine then outscored Evangel 23-11 in the third quarter to put the game away. A late Evangel run could only cut the lead to 12 before Benedictine hit free throws down the stretch.
"We played hard and I thought our effort was good but we weren't consistent enough offensively to stay with them for the whole game," said Evangel head coach Leon Neal. "We turned the ball over a bunch of times in the third quarter and that's when they made their run."
Allison Swanson led Evangel with 16 points with Jessica Lessmann adding a season high 14 points and seven rebounds.
Chayla Rutledge led Benedictine with 15 points.
With the loss, Evangel's record drops to 6-15 and 5-11 in the Heart of America conference. Baker improves to 20-4 and 12-4 in the league.
Evangel is next on the road on Wednesday, February 10th for a trip to Kansas City, Missouri to take on Avila. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30pm.
