Late Comeback Falls Short in Wildcats’ 73-66 Setback at MVC

MARSHALL, Mo. – A decisive fourth quarter that featured a last-minute rally from the Wildcats came up short for Baker women's basketball as it fell to Missouri Valley, 73-66 on Wednesday night in Marshall, Mo.

Leah Van Weelden led the Wildcats offensively with 14 points, while Sophia Barrett added 13 points. Ainsley Tolson filled up the stat sheet with 10 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Emina Hadzihusejnovic collected a game-high 13 rebounds to go along with her seven points.

The Vikings began the game by scoring eight unanswered points before Van Weelden got BU on the board with a basket off a pass from Tolson. After MVC pushed its lead to 15-6, the Wildcats started to string together some points with Emma Cunningham scoring five straight points to bring Baker within four. With the clock winding down, Tolson forced a Vikings turnover and found teammate Macey Frost for a buzzer-beating three to cut the MVC lead to 22-20.

The second quarter started in similar fashion as the first with Missouri Valley boasting the first couple of baskets with a jumper and a three-pointer to extend its lead to seven points. Later in the quarter, Barrett converted a three-point play to make it 33-29 in favor of the Vikings and the hosts would go on to push the lead back out to eight with 2:07 left in the half.

Van Weelden rattled off a key stretch to close the half as she scored the final six points to bring the Wildcats to within two at halftime, 38-36.

In the second half, Cunningham knotted the game quickly out of the intermission and later Barrett gave BU its first lead with a layup to make it 42-40. After Cunningham increased Baker's lead to four, the two teams would go scoreless for a two-minute stretch before the Vikings used a 7-0 run to retake the lead. Baskets from Hadzihusejnovic and Tolson kept the Wildcats within two, heading into the final quarter.

Missouri Valley posted another strong start to a quarter by scoring the first eight points of the fourth quarter. Barrett stopped the MVC spurt with a fast break layup, while Frost and Hadzihusejnovic traded buckets with the Vikings.

Trailing by 12 with less than a minute left in the game, Weathers drained back-to-back three-pointers to pull the Wildcats within six and make things interesting in the final seconds. That would be as close as Baker would get though as the Vikings held on for their 73-66 conference win.

Baker falls to 9-10 overall and 5-9 against Heart opponents this season. The Wildcats continue their road trip with a matchup against Evangel on Saturday, Jan. 28 at 2 p.m. in Springfield, Mo.

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