The No. 22-ranked Raven Women's Basketball took on Baker University on Thursday night for the right to play for the Heart Postseason Tournament Championship on Monday.
Benedictine (24-8) was able to hold off a second-half push by Baker (21-9) as the Ravens earned the 57-55 win advancing to the Heart championship game.
Both team converted on 19 field goals and four 3-pointers over the course of the game. The difference in the final outcome proved to be Benedictine's 6 for 8 effort from the charity stripe in the first half.
Both teams went 9 of 11 at the free throw line in the second half with Baker converting on one more field goal.
Benedictine held a 31-27 lead at the half as they converted one more field goal and the two addition free throws than Baker over the first 20 minutes of play.
A field goal by Jackie Ziesel and a 3-pointer by Ali Taff inside the first three minutes of the second half pushed the Ravens lead to nine points, their largest of the game.
From there, the two teams began to trade baskets until Baker was able to make a run that gave them a brief lead inside the final six minutes of the game.
After Benedicitne took back the lead, the Ravens and Wildcats played through two ties and two more lead changes before a 3-pointer with one minute remaining by Chayla Rutledge pushed the Ravens ahead by four points.
After a 3-pointer by Baker closed Benedictine's lead back to one point, Taff and Ziesel combined to go 3 of 4 from the free throw line which proved to be enough as a last-second basket by Baker fell short as time expired.
Ziesel scored a game-high 17 points to lead three Ravens in double figures. Taff finished with 10 while Lexi Villegas added 10 off the bench.
Benedictine finished the game with a 24-8 advantage in points off turnovers as they forced Baker into 19 turnovers.
The win sets up a rematch with top-seeded and No. 12-ranked MNU on Monday night at 7 p.m. in Olathe. MNU swept the regular-season series over Benedictine. They held off the Ravens, 59-57, in Atchison on Jan. 10 and then earned a 82-43 win over the Ravens in Olathe on Feb. 14.
