Late-Game Defense Leads Wildcats to Third Straight Victory

PARKVILLE, Mo. – In a game that featured 12 lead changes, Baker women's basketball survived a Park fourth-quarter rally with key defensive stops to defeat the Pirates, 59-56 and win its third straight game here Saturday afternoon.

While defense was at the forefront of this one, the Wildcats offense was led by Ainsley Tolson and Leah Van Weelden who each scored 17 points in the contest while Tolson also dished out six assists and tallied four steals. Baker's slashing point guard had another stellar game at the free-throw line where she went 13-for-15. Emma Cunningham reached double figures for the fourth straight game with 10 points.

In the first quarter, after Park jumped out to a 12-6 lead, the Wildcats clamped down on defense and held the Pirates scoreless over the final five minutes. Baker capitalized on its solid defending by scoring seven unanswered points to close out the opening period. Senior guard Macey Frost sparked the BU run after spotting up and splashing a three on a Wildcats fast break. Cunningham and Sophia Barrett followed with a couple of layups to put the Wildcats on top, 13-12 at the end of the first quarter.

After the Pirates went up by three, Cunningham and Tolson helped snag the lead right back for Baker with Tolson using a breakaway steal to put the Wildcats ahead, 19-18. BU clung to its advantage over the next couple of minutes but a Pirates three-pointer swung the lead back to the home side momentarily.

The Wildcats put together another timely scoring stretch with a 6-2 run to close the half. With just under a minute left, Barrett fired a half-court laser to Emina Hadzihusejnovic for an easy bucket while Van Weelden was rewarded with a pair of free throws right before the buzzer to give Baker a 30-27 halftime lead.

Just as it did to begin the game, Park took control coming out of the intermission to quickly reclaim the lead on back-to-back three-pointers. During the Pirates' hot start to the second half that saw them go up by six points, Park also held the Wildcats scoreless until midway through the third quarter.

But things started to heat up again for the Wildcats as they scored 12 consecutive points to take a six-point lead of their own. During the run, Frost connected on her second triple of the afternoon to pull BU within one and a few plays later Van Weelden – who scored nine points in the third – added another three to bring the Baker bench to its feet.

With a minute remaining in the third quarter, Hadzihusejnovic provided the game's largest lead as she was on the receiving end of a Van Weelden pass that put the Wildcats ahead 48-38.

Baker's fourth-quarter cushion was quickly erased by the Pirates as they opened the final period with eight unanswered points while holding the Wildcats scoreless until midway through the quarter.

With the score 55-52 in favor of Park, BU's downhill style of play led to a couple of free throw opportunities from Tolson and Van Weelden to tie the game at 55-55 heading into the final minute. A steal from Tolson resulted in another trip to the charity stripe where she pushed the Wildcats back ahead.

Baker's stingy defense forced another critical Pirates turnover that led to Tolson making it a three-point game with nine seconds left. Then, on the final possession and in appropriate fashion, it was Hadzihusejnovic who came through with BU's 12th steal of the game to secure the conference victory for the Wildcats.

Winners of three of their first four games to begin 2023, Baker moves to 8-7 on the season and 4-6 in Heart play. The Wildcats will play their second game in three days when they pay a visit to MidAmerica Nazarene for a Monday night matchup on Jan. 14 at 5:30 p.m.

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