PERU, Neb. The (RV) Raven Women's Basketball team overcame a cold third quarter on Wednesday night to earn a 13-point win over Peru State College.
Wrapping up a three-game road swing and playing their second road game in three days, the Ravens led 40-24 at the break before the Bobcats held them to just nine points in the third quarter. Benedictine (13-4, 7-4 Heart) responded with a 20-point fourth quarter to earn the 69-56 win.
After two slow starts in the first quarter of their previous two road games at Evangel and Central Methodist, the Ravens avoided a slow start on Wednesday. After briefly trailing by one point inside the first two minutes of the game, the Ravens were ignited by five straight points from Kayla Staley to pull ahead by six points before taking a five-point lead into the second quarter.
Benedictine started the second quarter on a 14-3 run to push their advantage to 16 points and led by double figures for the remainder of the first half. Despite outscoring the Ravens by 11 points in the third quarter, the Bobcats never took the lead as Benedictine took a five-point lead into the final 10 minutes of play.
The Ravens opened the fourth quarter with a 12-3 run that pushed their lead to as much as 14, which proved to be too much for the Bobcats to overcome.
Benedictine connected on 74.2 percent from the free-throw line, finishing the second half at 73.3 percent. LaRanda Thomas led three players in double figures with 24 points. She set new single-game individual highs in points and free throws as she went 10 for 10 at the charity stripe. Staley missed a double-double by one rebound as she finished with 18 points and 9 rebounds while Rachael Baumgartner added 11 points and 7 rebounds.
Benedictine finished with an 18-6 advantage in points off turnovers as they forced Peru State into 24 turnovers while committing just 10 of their own.
The Ravens return home on Saturday for a 2 p.m. game with (19) MNU inside the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium. Saturday marks the annual Raven Fan Fest starting at Noon and running to tip-off of the game with the Pioneers. The Ravens are also hosting their 4th through 6th grade Little Ravens Basketball Camp participants at halftime on Saturday.
