BALDWIN CITY – The Raven Women's Basketball team dominated the paint and outscored Baker University off the bench by 20 points as they returned to the floor for the first time in 2019.
Benedictine (8-6, 3-5 Heart) earned a 85-74 wire-to-wire win over (RV) Baker (10-5, 5-4 Heart) on Wednesday night to earn their third straight win.
The Ravens finished the game with a 50-27 advantage on the boards while outscoring the Wildcats 30-16 in the paint. Boosted by a game-high 20 points from Skylar Washington, the Ravens also finished the game with a 36-16 advantage in bench scoring as they earned the 11-point win.
LaRanda Thomas opened the game with three straight 3-pointers. That was followed by a pair of free throws from Rylee Neil and a basket in the paint from Kayla Staley which pushed the Ravens to their first double-figure lead of the game just over three minutes into the first quarter.
By the end of the quarter, the Ravens led 25-16 and by just over halfway through the second quarter, the Ravens pushed their lead to 15 off a 3-pointer from Washington. Another 3-pointer from Neill at the buzzer gave the Ravens a 10-point halftime lead.
Benedictine's largest lead of the second half came inside the first two minutes of the third quarter when Ali Brzozowski connected on a pair of free throws to put Benedictine up 52-38.
The Wildcats worked their way back into the game as they heated up from beyond the arc. Baker connected on four third-quarter 3-pointers and followed that up with five more in the fourth quarter. Even with their improved shooting from beyond the arc, all the closer the Wildcats could pull within the Ravens was five points. Benedictine outscored Baker 15-9 over the final six minutes of the game to earn the 11-point win.
In addition to Washington, the Ravens finished with three other players in double figures. Staley finished with a double-double, scoring 16 with 13 rebounds while Grace Brzozowski and Neill finished with 11 points each.
Benedictine finished with 11 3-pointers setting a new single-game high while their 85 points set a new season high for total points. The Ravens host Culver-Stockton College at 2 p.m. Saturday inside the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium.
