Late Free Throws Spoil Wildcats’ Road Clash at Evangel

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Two late Valor free throws doomed Baker women's basketball in its 64-63 loss to Evangel in a back-and-forth Heart of America Athletic Conference showdown on Saturday afternoon.

The Wildcats shot the ball better than the Valor, firing at a 52-percent clip in the game (24-for-46), but were limited to just 46 attempts – their second-lowest outing of the season. Baker's defense held the Valor to shoot 36-percent from the floor (24-for-66) and forced 18 turnovers.

Sophia Barrett and Leah Van Weelden each finished with 16 points as Van Weelden sparked the Wildcats offense with 13 points in the first half, while Barrett scored 11 of her points in the second half. Chassidy Weathers recorded eight points off the bench and Emina Hadzihusejnovic posted her fifth double-digit rebounding performance of the season with 10 boards.

Baker started of the game by making six of its first seven shots to boast an early 12-9 lead following back-to-back layups from Van Weelden. After Evangel responded to take a three-point advantage of its own, the Wildcats reclaimed the lead on a buzzer-beating layup from Van Weelden, who was set up by one of Ainsley Tolson's seven assists in the game, to steal the first quarter for BU, 19-18.

The defense kicked in for both sides in the second quarter with the two teams combining for just nine field goals. A couple minutes into the period, Weathers set off a fast-break opportunity with a steal and found Van Weelden for an easy two to put Baker ahead, 26-20. After an Evangel three cut the BU lead to three, the game came to a bit of a standstill with the Wildcats providing the only scoring over a five-minute stretch with five points.

With 2:28 left, Baker notched its largest lead of the half – and what would result as the game's largest lead as well – on a Weathers layup that made the score, 31-23. The Wildcats continued to hold onto its eight-point cushion for the remainder of the half until Evangel's second three of the quarter brought them within five points at the break, 34-29.

The Valor came right out of halftime with another triple to make it a two-point ball game, but Hadzihusejnovic scored on consecutive possessions to settle the momentum and maintain Baker's separation on the scoreboard. Evangel continued to trim its deficit to one possession throughout the third quarter and finally cracked the Wildcats' advantage at the midway point to bring the game to a 40-40 deadlock.

The two teams traded leads in the final minutes of the third quarter with Barrett's jumper at the 1:03 mark putting Baker ahead by one before an Evangel layup seized the advantage right back for the home side.

Trailing 48-47, Baker looked to gain some traction a few minutes into the final frame with Tolson setting up an Emma Cunningham layup before tacking on a bucket of her own to put the Wildcats within one again at 56-55.

Later, Cunningham's three from the top of the key tied the game at 58-58 before Barrett completed the Wildcats' comeback with a layup to give Baker its first lead since the third quarter. With 2:40 left, Barrett's free throws made it 63-60 in favor of BU, but Evangel held the Wildcats scoreless for the remainder of the game and used a layup and a couple of free throws with 18 seconds left to seal the Valor's 64-63 win.

Baker falls to 9-11 overall and 5-10 against conference opponents this season. The Wildcats return to the Collins Center to host Park on Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 5:30 p.m.

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