Wildcats Come Up Short in Tough Road Finale at Culver-Stockton

CANTON, Mo. – Baker matched its season best with 10 threes in the game, but it wasn't enough to push past Culver-Stockton as BU fell to C-SC, 69-60 here Saturday afternoon in the final regular-season road game for Baker.

BU shot just under 40 percent from three (10-for-27), but finished shooting 41 percent from the floor (23-for-56) with just 13 makes inside the three-point arc. Meanwhile, Culver-Stockton took advantage of a near-automatic outing at the free-throw line where the home-sided Wildcats went 18-for-20.

Alyssa Morris dropped a season-high 21 points to lead BU in scoring with all of her points coming on her seven 3-pointers in the game. Leah Van Weelden followed with 17 points for her 23rd game this year in double figures and Jaelyn Two Hearts chipped in nine points, six rebounds and three assists.

Morris' first three of the day opened up the scoring in the game and the junior from Odessa, Mo. added two more treys to give Baker an 11-8 lead thru the first four minutes of action.

After an offensive stick-back from Emma Cunningham, Two Hearts contributed to the early three-point barrage with her first triple giving BU a four-point lead. C-SC scored eight straight points and held Baker to just one bucket in the final four minutes as Van Weelden sank the last three of the opening period to make it a one-point deficit for BU at the quarter break.

Morris fired in another triple to start the second period and Two Hearts added a nice jumper to put the score back in Baker's favor at 24-22. Culver-Stockton hit back-to-back threes to spark a huge 14-3 run for the hosts, but BU closed out the half with a solid 8-0 spurt of its own to go into the half trailing by just one at 36-35.

The intermission didn't cool off the red-hot Morris, who came out of the break and immediately nailed a three to give the lead back to Baker. However, the game itself didn't start to pick back up until later into the quarter as a five-minute lull saw BU trailing by two before Van Weelden launched in another three to pull Baker within one in the closing seconds of the third.

C-SC would hit a jumper before the end of the third quarter and then open the fourth by scoring seven of the first nine points to push its lead out to 56-48.

A three-point play by Sophia Barrett put Baker within striking distance, but Culver-Stockton hit a jumper to take an eight-point lead with just under two minutes left. Van Weelden and Two Hearts added a couple of late buckets and Morris drilled one last desperation 3-pointer as Culver-Stockton held on to defeat BU, 69-60.

The seven 3-pointers by Morris ties the program's single-game record as she joins former Wildcats Ola Ciepla and Brittany Hines as the only other players to hit that mark for BU.

Baker will close out its 2023-24 season with a matchup against Peru State on Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 5:30 p.m. inside the Collins Center.

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