by PERU, Neb. – Propelled by a 57-point second half, Baker women’s basketball overcame a double-digit halftime deficit to defeat Peru State, 85-75 on the road here Wednesday evening and earn the Wildcats’ first conference win of the season.
After trailing 42-28 at the half, the Wildcats went off for 33 points in the third quarter to quickly erase the Bobcats’ advantage and take the lead for themselves heading into the fourth quarter. BU maintained its lead throughout the final period, using its defense to hold PSC to just six field goals in the quarter and come away with the conference road victory.
Sophia Barrett and Jaelyn Two Hearts poured in a combined 53 points with Barrett dropping a career-high 28 points and Two Hearts going on a 23-point tear in the second half to finish with her fifth 20-point outing of the season.
It was Barrett who got things going early on, scoring Baker’s first seven points of the game before Leah Van Weelden added a couple buckets towards the end of the quarter. With Peru State holding the early lead, Barrett’s layup with under a minute left brought the ‘Cats within six, but a Bobcats three settled the first quarter score at 21-12 in favor of the hosts.
Peru State continued to build on its lead in the second quarter with an 11-2 start to the period giving them nearly a 20-point lead midway through. Maggie Myers knocked down the first of her two triples in the quarter to cool off the PSC run and added the other three later on to make it 38-24.
Barrett’s layup before the buzzer capped the first half at 42-28 in favor of the Bobcats and set the stage for the Wildcats’ big second half.
Just 10 seconds into the second half, Two Hearts slipped a nice pass to Van Weelden on a backdoor play that jump-started the BU offense as they rattled off 23 points in the first five minutes of the third quarter to storm all the way back and claim their first lead of the contest.
After being limited to two points in the first half, Two Hearts picked it up right away in the second and used a couple of 3-pointers during the five-minute run to get herself going with her second triple of the half giving Baker a 51-50 lead.
With Baker carrying a 61-57 lead into the fourth quarter, Barrett found Emma Cunningham slipping behind the Bobcats defense for an easy bucket before another three by Two Hearts made it a nine-point favor for BU.
Cunningham added a three of her own a little bit later as her shot from the top of the key gave Baker a 14-point lead with just under seven minutes left to play.
The Bobcats used a couple of late threes to try and muster a late rally, but the Wildcats would finish off their emphatic second half with a 28-point fourth quarter to claim an 85-75 victory on the road.
