Women's Basketball fell in a close game Wednesday night.
The Ravens lost their final home game of the season 65-57 to the Missouri Valley College Vikings.
After falling behind big in the first half, the Ravens came out determined in the second half. Aaliyah Raines drilled a 3-pointer to bring the Ravens back to within single-digits, and an overall 16-2 run pulled the home side to within 3 points, 44-41, late in the third. The teams headed to the fourth quarter with the Vikings in front 49-43.
The Vikings pushed their lead back to 8 points early in the fourth quarter only to see the Ravens get as close as 3 points once again when Jennifer Jacobs made a pair of free throws with 6:49 to play. However, the Vikings withstood the charge and went on to win by 8 points.
A long scoring drought hurt the Ravens in the second quarter. After a Raines jumper pulled the Ravens to within 1 point at 19-18, the Vikings rattled off a 14-0 run over nearly 7 minutes of action to take a 33-18 lead.
The Ravens outrebounded the Vikings in the first half, 22-17, but the visitors had a 38% to 32% shooting advantage in the opening 20 minutes. MVC did a lot of damage behind the 3-point line, converting 6-of-13 from deep, including one to beat the buzzer in the first quarter and another deep 3-pointer to beat the shot clock in the second quarter. They held a 36-21 lead at halftime.
The Ravens showed some fight in the second half, clawing back to within 3 points on two different occasions, but it was the Vikings who walked off the court with the win.
The Ravens finished shooting 43% from the field, besting MVC's 38 percent, and outrebounded the Vikings 41-29. But 22 turnovers hurt the Ravens cause.
Raines scored 13 points to lead the Ravens, Kennedy Nicholson had 10 points, and Makayla Baughman and Jacobs each scored 8 points.
The Ravens (9-18 overall, 6-15 Heart) will close out their season Saturday, Feb. 18 at Culver-Stockton.
