Women’s Basketball Falls to No. 4 Clarke in Heart Road Matchup

DUBUQUE, Iowa – Baker women's basketball outscored its opponent in the second half for the second straight game, but could not overcome a 30-point halftime deficit as the Wildcats fell to No. 4 Clarke, 92-65 on Saturday afternoon in Dubuque, Iowa.

After being held to 20 points in the first half, the Wildcats came back and put up 45 points in the second half, hitting five of their eight 3-pointers in the latter half. However, the Pride shot over 50 percent from both the floor (31-for-57) and from three-point range (10-for-20) and used a 20-for-23 mark at the free-throw line to remain undefeated in conference play.

Sophia Barrett scored a season-high 19 points to lead BU, while Leah Van Weelden and Jaelyn Two Hearts were right behind in double figures as well with Van Weelden going for 17 points on four triples and Two Hearts recording 16 points for her seventh straight game with double-digit scoring.

The Pride capitalized on four 3-pointers to build a 12-point lead in the first quarter, connecting on a couple 3-pointers in the game's first three minutes of action before adding two more later on in the period. Barrett countered with a trey of her own to open up BU's scoring at the beginning of the quarter, while Matalina Ochoa's bucket at the 2:18 mark made it a seven-point ballgame.

The hosts continued to stay hot in the second quarter after landing a couple more triples with their sixth one of the game coming just over two minutes into the frame to put Clarke ahead, 34-12. The Wildcats had their final six points of the half come from downtown with Two Hearts knocking down a trey and Kayla Harrison beating the buzzer with a three to close out the half.

In the third quarter, it was Van Weelden who started to heat up for BU as the senior from Marion, Iowa scored 13 points, including a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, to lead a Wildcats surge to start the second half. Her 3-pointer at the 4:14 mark cut it to a 23-point deficit for BU while a Barrett layup before the buzzer would settle the score at 68-45 heading into the final quarter.

Van Weelden drilled another three to open things up in the fourth and Harrison added a layup a little later to get the Pride's lead to under 20 points at 70-52. The Wildcats used an 8-2 run to cut it to a 15-point game with Two Hearts knocking down her final three of the game and Barrett converting a three-point play as well during the stretch. That would be as close at the Wildcats would get though as the fourth-ranked Pride held on to win, 92-65.

Despite being outrebounded, 50-23, the Wildcats won the turnover margin after forcing 18 turnovers with Van Weelden collecting four steals in the contest.

Harrison, a freshman from Miami, Fla., had the best outing of her debut season after scoring nine points and grabbing three rebounds in her 19 minutes of action.

Baker finishes off its back-to-back road games with a matchup at Peru State on Wednesday, Dec. 6 with tipoff set for 5:30 p.m. in Peru, Neb.

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