HONOLULU – Behind a season-high 10 3-pointers, the Raven Women's Basketball team wrapped up play in the Malika Classic on Wednesday with an 82-79 win over the University of Rio Grande.
The 82 points scored by Benedictine (7-6) also marked a new season high point total as they also scored 26 points off 22 Rio Grande (10-3) turnovers.
Defensively, in addition to the 22 turnovers, the Ravens limited Rio Grande to just four 3-pointers off 20 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
Meanwhile, the Ravens shot a season-high from beyond the arc as they converted on 10 of 19 for a 52.6-percent effort.
Rio Grande jumped out to a 7-0 lead over the Ravens before Benedictine went on a 16-2 run that was capped off by a basket from Rachel Baumgartner. With the run, the Ravens not only erased their early deficit, they built as much as a seven point lead over the Red Storm. By the end of the first quarter, Benedictine held an eight-point lead and by the half that lead stood at 44-42.
The Red Storm struck first in the second half to tie game inside the first 10 seconds of the third quarter. After giving up the lead briefly, LaRanda Thomas connected on a 3-pointer to give the Ravens back the lead with nine minutes lin the third quarter. The Red Storm were able to hold off the Ravens as they quarter continued to push ahead by as much as five before before a pair of free throws by Ali Brzozowski pushed Benedictine back in front, 58-57.
Benedictine never gave back the lead. After pushing their lead to six points heading into the fourth quarter, they pushed ahead by as much as 10 before earning the six-point win over the Red Storm.
Thomas led the Ravens with a game-high 25 points as she finished with six 3-pointers. Skylar Washington anchored the Ravens bench scoring, which finished with a 33-21 advantage, finishing with 10 points to round out the Ravens top scorers.
The win over the Red Storm closes out the semester for the Ravens. They return to the court on Jan. 2 when they travel to Baldwin City to take on No. 23 Baker University. They return to Dugan Jones Court on Jan. 5 hosting Culver-Stockton College at 2 p.m.
