ATCHISON – Benedictine Women's Basketball will host the MNU Pioneers on Saturday in the Heart Conference Network Game of the Week.
The (14) Pioneers will travel to the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium looking for the regular-season sweep over the (RV) Benedictine at 2 p.m. Benedictine is looking to snap a 7-game losing streak to MNU as the Pioneers have won 9 of the last 10 dating back to Jan. 20, 2021, when Benedictine earned a 68-64 win in Olathe.
Saturday's game of two NAIA-rated programs marks the 72nd meeting between the two programs since 1992 when Benedictine joined the Heart of America Athletic Conference. Saturday's game is also the second time the match-up has been featured as the Game of the Week as the first meeting back on Dec. 7 featured the then-ranked No. 23 Ravens and then-ranked No. 25 Pioneers.
Benedictine enters the game winners of 6 of their last 7 and are just outside of the latest NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll earning 55 points for what would be No. 33. MNU enters with a national ranking and brings in a 16-game winning streak as the last remaining unbeaten team in Heart play.
In their first meeting of the season back in December, the Pioneers earned a 72-58 win over the Ravens handing Benedictine its first loss. The Pioneers limited the Ravens to a 9-point second quarter, which turned a 5-point game into a 39-24 halftime lead after the first quarter.
The two teams combined for 86 points in the paint in the first meeting while MNU forced Benedictine into a season-high 22 turnovers, which translated to 25 points off turnovers. Benedictine also forced MNU into 14 turnovers translating to 14 points but the Pioneers ability to convert at a higher rate off the Ravens turnovers proved to be a deciding factor in the win.
Carmen Morales led the Ravens in scoring with 16 points off. the bench a the Ravens finished with a 25-19 advantage in bench scoring. Kennedy Nicholson added 10 points while Josie Weishaar and Riley Bruggeman finished with 9 points each. Keona Schenk scored a game-high 18 for the Pioneers as she was joined in double figures by Aubrey Rogers with 15 and Mary Lucent with 11.
The game will be streamed on the Benedictine Raven Sports Network. BRSN is a proud partner of the Heart Conference Network and can be viewed online at www.heartconferencenetwork.com/benedictine-college or on the Heart Conference Network app on Roku, AppleTV or Amazon FireTV.
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