Women's Basketball advances to Second Round with 39-point win over LSU-Alexandria

McKenzie, Tenn. – Benedictine Women's Basketball advanced to the Second Round of the NAIA Women's Basketball National Championship on Friday night with a convincing win in the First Round at Bethel University.

The Ravens controlled the game from the start against LSU-Alexandria as they earned an 80-41. Friday night's win was the Ravens second-largest margin of victory this season.

After the Generals scored the opening basket of the game, the Ravens scored on baskets from Jennifer Jacobs and Riley Rottinghaus in the paint before Kennedy Nicholson knocked in her first 3-pointer of the night to push Benedictine up 7-2. By the end of the first quarter, the Ravens pushed their lead to 11 points as they led 21-10.

The defense came to play for Benedictine in the second quarter, limiting LSU-Alexandria to just 5 points on 2 field goals throughout the quarter. On the offensive side, Nicholson added 2 more 3-pointers as Benedictine added 16 points to their total to lead 37-15 at the half.

Josie Weishaar opened the second half with a 3-pointer to push Benedictine's lead to 25 points while Nicholson added another 3-pointer with just over 7 minutes left in the third quarter to push the Ravens lead to 31 and put her on the cusp of 1,000 points at 999 career points.

Lauryn Dubbert used a pair of layups around the midpoint of the third quarter to push Benedictine out to a 34-point lead twice before they settled with a 32-point lead, 62-30, headed to the fourth quarter.

Riley Bruggeman opened up the fourth quarter with a pair of steals that led to transition layups. Nicholson reached her milestone with a 3-pointer with 6:42 left to play – her seventh of the game – to become the newest member of the Ravens 1,000-point Club. 

Hattie Gros gave the Ravens their largest lead of the game at 44 points following Nicholson's 3-pointer before the Ravens earned the 39-point win to advance to the Second Round.

Nicholson finished with 21 points on 7 3-pointers, followed by Dubbert with 16. Rottinghaus and Weishaar scored 9 points each to round out the Ravens top scorers.

Benedictine held LSU-Alexandria to a season-low 41 points while holding them to just 28.1 percent from the floor. The Generals entered the game shooting 32.8 percent from beyond the arc with an average of 6.6 3-pointers and the Ravens held them to 3 of 18 from beyond the arc.

The Ravens advance to the Second Round against Cramer Quadrant No. 1 seed Bethel. The Wildcats advanced to the Second Round with an 86-56 win over No. 16 seed Sterling College in the first game on Friday from Crisp Arena. The matchup between the Ravens and the Wildcats will be the second time the two programs face off in the NAIA National Championships. The two teams played each other in Frankfort, Ky., on March 14, 2013, in the first round where Benedictine earned an 81-74 win.

Bethel and Benedictine will play at 4 p.m. Saturday with the winner advancing to the Round of 16 in Sioux City, Iowa on March 20 or 21.

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