Women's Basketball wrapped up the 2021 Holiday Inn Express Classic on Saturday with another solid win, this time over the University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy in St. Louis.
Benedictine scored 14 points off 13 turnovers and finished the game with a 36-18 advantage in points in the paint as they beat the Eutectics 63-50.
Alleigh Kramer scored the first five points of the game as the Ravens jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead. Despite the quick start, UHSP didn't back down from Benedictine overcoming the early deficit to lead briefly 10-9, before Benedictine took an 11-10 advantage into the second quarter. Benedictine added to their one-point advantage by pushing the ball inside in the second quarter. The Ravens scored a total of 20 points in the quarter with 12 of those coming in the paint as their lead stood at 31-18 at the break.
UHSP's Grace Beyer entered play against Benedictine as the NAIA's leading scorer. At the half, she scored 13 of the Eutectics 18 points. Beyer finished the game with 31 points, accounting for 62 percent of the total scoring for USHP, which played into the Ravens favor as they displayed a more balanced offensive effort through the game.
Benedictine pushed their lead to as much as 15 points in the third quarter before UHSP cut that lead down to 8 points early in the fourth quarter. Benedictine answered with a 12-2 run that pushed the lead back to its largest for Benedictine at 21 points to put the game away.
Kramer finished the game with 17 points, hitting 3 3-pointers and going 7 of 9 from the field while Natalie Smaron added 12 points. Three Ravens narrowly missed out on a double-double. Aaliyah Raines finished with 8 points and 8 assists, Ali Brzozowski added 7 points and 11 rebounds while Twilah Carrasquillo finished with 8 points and 11 rebounds.
The Ravens travel to Topeka on Wednesday for an exhibition against NCAA Div. II Washburn University before hosting former NAIA member College of the Ozarks at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 20 inside the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium.
