DES MOINES – The Raven Women's Basketball team entered the Heart Postseason Tournament as the conference's top-scoring defense.
Benedictine earned a 67-56 win over Grand View University on Wednesday night snapping the Vikings four-game winning streak and handing Grand View their second loss in February. The Ravens held the Vikings to their third-lowest point total of the season and their lowest scoring total since a 44-point effort in a loss to MNU on Jan. 29.
In their first meeting of the season, Grand View scored 30 points in the opening quarter. In their quarterfinal meeting, the Vikings jumped out to an early 8-0 and looked headed for another commanding win. Benedictine outscored Grand View 11-2 over the final seven minutes of the quarter to not only erase their deficit but pull in front, 11-10 at the end of the quarter.
Benedictine never gave back their first-quarter lead. A pair of last-second free throws by Skylar Washington pushed the Ravens to a 12-point margin at the half, 28-16. As the third quarter got going, the Ravens continued to add to their lead. Aaliyah Raines gave the Ravens their largest lead to that point at 15, 34-19, midway through the third quarter. It was Raines early in the fourth quarter hitting the only 3-pointer of the second half to push the Ravens to their largest lead of the night at 19 points.
Grand View managed to outscore Benedictine 26-21 in the fourth quarter, but couldn't breakthrough as they were forced to foul the Ravens. Benedictine hit 14 of their 18 second-half free throws in the fourth quarter to keep Grand View at arm's length and earn the win.
The Ravens finished the game hitting 82.8 percent from the free throw line. Defensively, they held the Vikings to just 30.2 percent from the floor after limiting them to just 5 field goals in the first half. The Vikings enter the postseason, averaging 41.3 percent from the field with an average of 9.9 3-pointers. Benedictine held them to just 7 3-pointers with just 3 of those coming in the final quarter of the game.
Raines led the Ravens with a game-high 19 points while Natalie Smaron added a double-double scoring 18 points with 13 rebounds. The duo combined to hit 10 of 11 free throws.
Benedictine remains on the road Saturday for the Heart Postseason Tournament Semifinals as they head to Fayette, Mo., to take on NAIA No. 15 Central Methodist University Game time has yet to be set and will be posted on www.ravenathletics.com once the decision is made.
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