Wildcats Fall to No. 5 Clarke, 80-64 on Senior Day

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. – Baker women's basketball hung tough with No. 5 Clarke, but eventually fell to the defending national champions, 80-64 on Senior Day for BU here Saturday afternoon in the Collins Center.

Following the conclusion of the game, the Wildcats honored four seniors for their contributions to the Baker women's basketball program. Those seniors included Emma Cunningham, Matalina Ochoa, Jaelyn Two Hearts and Leah Van Weelden.

The Pride shot over 45 percent and hit seven threes, but couldn't quite put away a resilient BU side until late with the Wildcats outscoring CU, 36-35 in the second half.

Cunningham turned in a memorable performance for her Senior Day outing, scoring a career-high 21 points with 13 of them coming in the second half of action. Two Hearts followed with 16 points, six rebounds and five assists, while Van Weelden tallied 15 points and four assists.

Two Hearts sank an early three for the Wildcats to give them a quick lead before a triple from the Pride sprang seven straight points for them to take a 14-7 lead. Van Weelden added a three for BU and a cherry-picking layup by Cunningham cut it to a seven-point game, but Clarke closed out the quarter with five consecutive points to take a 26-14 after the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Alyssa Morris splashed in a three as the Wildcats continued to hover around a 10-point deficit for most of the period. After a jumper by Two Hearts at the 3:40 mark, Baker went without a field goal for the rest of the half with a couple of free throws by Cunningham capping BU's scoring in the first half.

With :46 seconds left, the Pride hit their fourth three of the half and added a second-chance bucket right before the buzzer to take a 45-28 lead into halftime.

The Wildcats came out of the intermission with a solid 10-3 run, highlighted by a couple of three-point shots from Van Weelden and Cunningham with Cunningham's bringing the 'Cats within single digits at 47-38.

Van Weelden and Two Hearts kept Baker within single digits as the two teams traded buckets before a Pride three put them up by 14 with just over four minutes left in the third quarter. Two Hearts got a nice baseline floater to fall in the final minute to make it 58-47 as the Wildcats went into the fourth quarter with an 11-point deficit.

Cunningham connected on the first score of the fourth to bring the Wildcats within single digits again before back-to-back threes from Clarke squashed the BU momentum and gave the Pride a little more breathing room.

Baker got scoring from its seniors through the midway stretch of the fourth, but couldn't keep the Pride from scoring as well as Clarke eventually built up a 20-point lead and finished off its road win, 80-64.

Up next, the Wildcats close out their three-game homestand with a midweek matchup against Graceland set for Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in Baldwin City.

#BakerBuildsChampions