Wildcats Drop Road Contest at Rockhurst, 67-41

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Baker women's basketball team fell to NCAA Division II opponent Rockhurst, 67-41 in its final game of the calendar year on Friday night in Kansas City, Mo.

The Wildcats were led by Leah Van Weelden who scored a team-high 11 points while going 3-for-5 from three-point range. Ainsley Tolson joined Van Weelden in double digits with 10 points. Emina Hadzihusejnovic chipped in nine points and pulled down four rebounds off the bench for the Wildcats.

Playing their first game in almost two weeks, the Wildcats had to shake off some cobwebs in the early going. Emma Cunningham opened up BU's scoring with a layup on a nice find from Van Weelden. Cunningham added another layup later in the quarter to the tie game at 6-6. Rockhurst went on to take a 14-8 lead into the first quarter break.

In the second quarter, Baker started to find its rhythm, opening up the period with a 12-3 run. Hadzihusejnovic began the scoring stretch with a layup and contributed another basket a couple minutes later to put the Wildcats up by four. Van Weelden closed out the BU run with a triple to make it 22-17 in favor of the Wildcats.

The Hawks held Baker without a field goal for the rest of the half and chipped their way back to cut the Wildcats' lead to 23-21 at halftime.

Out of the intermission, Van Weelden hit another triple for the Wildcats to extend their lead to five points. After the Hawks knotted the game at 26-all, Tolson traded baskets with the hosts as she scored back-to-back on driving layups before knocking down a pair of free throws to keep things deadlocked at 32-32.

Then, it was the hosts turn to catch fire as the Hawks rattled off 16 unanswered points and closed out the third quarter on a 19-3 scoring burst.

Leading 51-35, Rockhurst's Ali Kamies knocked down a three to open the fourth quarter and the Hawks defense did the rest, holding BU to just six points in the final frame. Hadzihusejnovic and Hayley Numrich each had three points in the period as the Wildcats succumbed to their non-conference foe, 67-41.

Baker gets back into Heart play with a road trip to Dubuque, Iowa to take on Clarke on Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 12 p.m.

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