Wildcats Take No. 2 Central Methodist Down to the Wire

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. – The Baker women's basketball team battled No. 2 Central Methodist down to the final buzzer, but ultimately had its upset bid fall short as the Eagles escaped the Collins Center with a 63-58 win on Saturday.

A wild first half featured a complete flip of the script between the first and second quarters with CMU opening up with a 22-8 advantage in the first and then Baker countering right back to outscore the Eagles 20-6 in the second.

Emma Cunningham recorded her third double-double of the season, finishing with a team-high 15 points and 10 rebounds. Leah Van Weelden tallied 14 points and Ainsley Tolson joined the pair in double figures with 10 points.

The long ball wasn't kind to either side with the two teams combining to go 5-for-35 from three-point range. Despite only getting one three to fall, the Wildcats shot nearly 50 percent from all shots inside the arc and went a perfect 9-for-9 at the line.

Ironically, it was a CMU three that kicked off the scoring as the Eagles opened the game with a 12-2 run. Cunningham and Chassidy Weathers scored a couple of layups to slow down the Eagles, but the visitors responded by scoring the next 10 points to take a 22-8 lead into the second quarter.

Baker stormed right back in the second period, leaning on its tough defense and balanced offense to draw things even. A three-point play from Cunningham jump-started the huge comeback, while a Weathers three a couple minutes later brought the Wildcats within 10. With two minutes until halftime, Emina Hadzihusejnovic stuck back an offensive rebound to trim the deficit to just four points and Tolson sank a couple free throws in the final seconds to make the halftime score a deadlock at 28-28. It marked just the second time this season that the undefeated Eagles didn't take a lead into halftime.

The Wildcats continued their hot stretch out of the intermission with Van Weelden and Tolson scoring back-to-back layups to give BU its first lead of the game and put them up by four. Later in the quarter, after CMU retook the lead, Tolson came right back and swished a jumper to tie it back up. Weathers put Baker back on top with 2:24 left in the period after getting an open mid-range look to make it 40-38.

With nine seconds left in the third, Central Methodist hit a couple of free throws to go up by two, but a lightning-quick fast break from the Wildcats resulted in Van Weelden getting a layup to fall before the buzzer and match the score yet again at 44-44.

Early in the final quarter, Hadzihusejnovic put the Wildcats in front on consecutive possessions, beginning with a nice find from Sophia Barrett to set up the senior forward for an easy basket before Hadzihusejnovic knocked down a turnaround jumper to make it a 50-48 Baker advantage. The Eagles responded with back-to-back threes to seize the momentum and take a four-point lead heading into the home stretch.

Baker got a string of big buckets from its enforcer inside as Cunningham muscled her way to layups on three straight possessions to cut the CMU lead to two at 60-58. The scored remained that way for a brief cold stretch before an Eagles free throw made it a three-point ball game with 1:23 left.

After a Baker turnover, the Wildcats had to rely on getting CMU into the bonus to prolong the game and the Eagles converted a couple of free throws to go up by five with 16 seconds left. The Wildcats mustered up a couple of shots looking to tie the game one last time, but they would fall short as the hard-fought conference matchup ended in CMU's favor, 63-58.

Baker falls to 9-9 overall and 5-8 against Heart opponents this season. The Wildcats head back out on the road to face Missouri Valley on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 5:30 p.m. in Marshall, Mo.

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