FRANKFORT, Ky. – The historic run for the No. 11-ranked Raven women's basketball team came to a close on Friday night in the second round of the 2013 NAIA Div. I National Championship Tournament at the hands of No. 6-ranked Cumberland (Tenn.) University.
Benedictine (28-6) was held to just 30.4 percent from the floor as Cumberland (32-2) hit 43 percent, two points higher than their regular season average en route to a 65-54 win.
"Tonight they were just a little more physical than us at times but I thought that we laid it all out there," said Raven head coach Chad Folsom. "We still played the way that we know how and that's to play hard. They are a very good team, very physical and very athletic."
Cumberland led from the start with Benedictine remaining in striking distance throughout the entire game.
Benedictine held two brief one-point leads around the midpoint of the first half on baskets from post Liz Stinson (Sr., Stilwell) and forward Erin Murphy (Sr., Olathe) only to have Cumberland respond by outscoring Benedictine 19-14 over the last 10 minutes of the half.
Cumberland held Benedictine to just eight first-half field goals while converting 12 of their own to lead 31-27 at the break.
In the second half, closed within two points twice inside the first six minutes before Cumberland used an 8-0 run to pull ahead by double figures, 43-33.
Benedictine shaved its deficit to 49-44 with 8:12 to play on a basket by Stinson but couldn't pull any closer as Cumberland remaining consistent over the final eight minutes of the game.
The Bulldog bench held a narrow 23-21 advantage over the Ravens as Cumberland finished with three players in double figures.
Stinson finished with a game-high 17 points, leading the Ravens for the second straight game.
Jessica Pace and Josette Campbell paced Cumberland with 12 points each.
"We hung right there with them and I think that if we're able to get a couple of loss balls down the stretch and if we could have gotten a couple more to fall that we got to the rim in the first couple of minutes of the second half, things might have been different," Coach Folsom said. "Even with that we were still three of four possessions away and I thought we were close and our effort was good."
Benedictine's 28 wins this season matches the third-best record in program history, matching the win total of the 1997-98 Raven team.
This season's tournament run also matches the NAIA Div. II tournament run made by the 2007-08 Raven team that was knocked out in the second round.
Anselmi re-writes assist record book
Raven guard Kelsey Anselmi (Sr., Olathe) finished the game with five assists.
Those five assists pushed Anselmi's season total to 190, breaking Benedictine's single-season assist record held by former Raven Angela Campbell. Campbell's record was set during the 2005-06 season – also a national-tournament run. Anselmi also finished this season with a 5.6 assist per game average, breaking Campbell's single-season average record.
Anselmi finishes her career with 482 career assists, surpassing Campbell's previous school record of 450 assists. With a career average of 3.9 assists per game over 121 games, she ties the Ravens career assists per game record with Wendy Pobirk. Pobirk averaged 3.9 over 49 games from 1988-90.
