Story by Mike Bennett, special contributor to www.evangelathletics.com

The Evangel Valor moved closer to a top-four spot in the Heart Conference standings on Wednesday night by playing the depth game again.

It's been most noticeable after halftime.

It was true again in stopping Benedictine 70-61 in women's basketball at Ashcroft Center. Evangel trailed by six in the second quarter. "We are a second-half team," said sophomore guard Jazzy Kirby, who scored 11 points and made two assists. "We always focus hard on coming out strong after halftime."

That's not that Evangel doesn't try to do the same to start the game. In fact, the Valor shot 56.5% in the first half, but the Ravens got numerous second chances after snaring offensive rebounds.

Evangel hit 55.8% for the game on 29-for-52 field-goal attempts.

The Ravens lost even though they had double the number of rebounds – 40-20 – and held the Valor to just one successful 3-point shot.

"We knew they were a post-heavy team," Kirby said. "We tried to limit their second-chance points (in the second half)."

Evangel rose to 11-11 – after going 0-4 on the road to start the season. The Valor are 10-7 and moved into a fifth-place tie with Culver-Stockton in the Heart Conference.

The teams face each other at noon Saturday as Evangel concludes a three-game homestand at Ashcroft Center. "It's a big game," said Coach Preston Beverly. "The winner takes fifth. Getting a home game (top four in standings) is the goal. It's the mission."

He praised the balance of his team and leadership coming from older and younger players in games and at practices. "They are a really vocal group. They feed off each other," he said. "We are finishing out with different lineups. This game just speaks to the toughness and depth of our team." 

Kennedy Nicholson hit 4-for-8 on treys and scored a game-high 19 points for Benedictine. 

Micah Clayton led Evangel with 14 points and four rebounds. Alexis Roach scored 10 points and added two steals and two assists.

Lyla Watson scored eight points, while Alexis Cauthon, Giah Moore and Paiton Acord scored six apiece.

Benedictine led 17-15 after the first quarter and had its largest lead at six with 7:44 left in the first half. It was 36-34 at halftime. "Depth is an asset. The ability to wear the other team is definitely a strategy," Beverly said. "Being down 2 at half was not a worry point for us. We are used to that."

Two layups by Kirby started an 11-0 streak that moved Evangel ahead 49-41 with 3:47 left in the third quarter.

The layups made it 41-41 at 5:15 to go. Then, a pair of jumpers by Watson and a layup by Acord made it 47-41 with 3:47 left.

Moore finished the streak with a jumper at 3:27.

"We want to stop them and score, then stop them and score again," Kirby said.

Evangel led 53-49 after three quarters, then steadily built the lead to a high of 15 points with 3:02 left. Roach scored six in the final quarter.

Evangel forced 29 turnovers with an aggressive defense throughout the game. The Valor made 10 steals and committed 13 turnovers. 

The team warmed up in T-shirts that celebrated National Girls and Women in Sports Day.