Wildcats Drop Midweek Home Contest to MNU, 71-61

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. – Trailing by three with just over three minutes left, the Baker women's basketball team couldn't crack MidAmerica Nazarene's lead down the stretch and eventually succumbed to the visiting Pioneers, 71-61 on Wednesday evening in the Collins Center.

The Wildcats had another terrific night at the line with a 14-for-16 effort, shooting over 83-percent from the charity stripe for the third straight game. The key discrepancy in this one came from behind-the-arc where the Pioneers made eight threes (8-for-23), while the Wildcats were just 3-for-19 from deep.

Sophia Barrett came up a rebound shy of a double-double with a team-high 18 points and nine boards and teammate Emma Cunningham was right there with her, tacking on 17 points and eight rebounds. Leah Van Weelden added 13 points, going a perfect 5-for-5 at the free throw line.

It was all Cunningham for BU in the first quarter as the junior forward scored 11 points in the opening frame, including the Wildcats' first nine points. Her three from the top of the key kicked off the game's scoring and she would later cap her explosive first period after collecting an Ainsley Tolson pass and laying it in for a quick bucket to pull Baker within one at 16-15.

With the Pioneers leading by three to start the second quarter, Barrett made a nice cut to the basket to finish off a dish from Cunningham and converted a three-point play on the next trip down to put the Wildcats on top, 20-18.

After MNU retook the lead, Emmery Joseph drilled a spot-up three to draw the game even again, but the Pioneers rolled off seven unanswered points to earn their biggest lead of the half. Barrett kept the deficit manageable as she went coast-to-coast in the closing minute to make for a 34-30 score at halftime.

In the third quarter, MNU extended its lead back out to seven, but another Barrett layup and a big three from Chassidy Weathers pulled BU within two with 7:37 left. The Wildcats never let the Pioneers lead get past seven for the remainder of the period with Cunningham knocking down a jumper and Van Weelden getting a fast break layup to fall in order to keep Baker within striking distance.

An Emina Hadzihusejnovic mid-range basket capped the high-scoring third quarter that featured a combined 43 points scored and cut the MNU lead to 56-51, going into the final 10 minutes of play. 

Following the frantic third quarter, the game cooled off a bit to begin the fourth with the first points coming three minutes into the period on an MNU three. With 5:39 left in the game, Weathers corralled her own miss and fired off a quick runner to make it 59-55 in favor of the visitors before a Barrett free throw made it a one-possession ballgame.

MNU's Bi'Anna Pettis, who had made two total threes on the season coming into today's contest, hit her fourth three-pointer of the game in a gut-wrenching spot to give the Pioneers a six-point lead with three minutes remaining.

With the Pioneers getting their biggest cushion of the game in the late stages, Van Weelden scored a nice stretch of baskets to keep BU in it, but MidAmerica was able to slip out of the Collins Center with a 71-61 victory.

Baker moves to 11-12 overall and 7-11 against conference opponents this season. The Wildcats head out for their final road trip of the regular season, beginning with a visit to Lamoni, Iowa to face Graceland on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 2 p.m. They will then travel to Central Methodist on Feb. 13, before returning to the Collins Center for their last two regular-season games against William Penn (Feb. 15) and Peru State (Feb. 18).

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