The No. 12 Raven women's basketball team earned a convincing HAAC Postseason Tournament Quarterfinal win over Evangel University on Thursday night.
Benedictine (27-4) the No. 2 seed in the tournament, started out slow against the No. 7-seeded Crusaders, but then used a 50 percent shooting effort in the second half to put away Evangel (7-18) 75-57 to advance to the tournament semifinals.
Evangel held Benedictine to just two points through the first four minutes of the game.
After two ties, the Ravens grabbed their second lead of the game on a 3-pointer from guard Jackie Zeisel (Soph., St. Joseph, Mo.) and never looked back.
Zeisel's 3-pointer sparked a 11-0 run by the Ravens that pushed their lead to 10 points by the midpoint of the first half.
Benedictine upped their defensive pressure and pushed its lead to as much as 14 points before taking a 15 point lead into the break.
While Evangel heated up to 45 percent from the floor in the second half, they only converted 9 second-half field goals which allowed Benedictine to maintain control of the game throughout the second half.
Evangel took away the 3-point shot for Benedictine all game long, limiting the Ravens to just 3 of 15 from beyond the arc.
What the Ravens lacked from beyond the arc, they made up in the paint, outscoring Evangel 26-18.
The Ravens also forced the Crusaders into 18 turnovers while committing just 11 of their own. Those 18 points translated to a 15-8 advantage in points off turnovers.
Benedictine earn its third win of the season over Evangel with a strong effort off the bench as the Ravens outscored the Crusaders 32-10 off the bench.
While the Raven bench didn't have a double-digit scorer they got a balanced attack from Ziesel, guard Rosie Youngstrom (Jr., Fairway), forward Jayde Reid (RsFr., Topeka) and forward Chayla Rutledge (RsFr., Stockton, Mo.). Ziesel and Youngstrom scored 9 points each while Rutledge and Reid added 8 and 6 points respectively.
Two Raven starters finished in double figures, led by guard Justice Payne (Jr., Stillwater, Okla.) with 17 points. Post Liz Stinson (Sr., Stilwell, Kan.) added 13 points to round out the Ravens top scorers.
Evangel was led by the game-high 21 points of Emily Akins. Sierra McSpadden added 16 points.
Benedictine advances to host a HAAC Postseason Tournament Semifinal at 7 p.m. Saturday against No. 3 seed Central Methodist University.
CMU advanced to the semifinals with a 68-56 win over Culver-Stockton College.
Benedictine took the regular-season series over CMU. The Ravens earned a 67-57 win over the Eagles inside the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium on Jan. 12 and then picked up a come-back win in Fayette, Mo., on Feb. 16, 62-56.
The winner will advance to the HAAC Postseason Tournament championship game on Tuesday, March 5 against the winner of the MNU-Baker game. MNU is the top seed while Baker is the No. 4 seed.
