Wildcats Close Out 2023-24 Regular Season with Loss to Bobcats

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. – Baker women's basketball tallied six threes in the opening frame, but couldn't overcome a Peru State team that scored at least 16 points in every quarter as the Wildcats fell to the Bobcats, 78-63 on Wednesday in the Collins Center in the 2023-24 season finale for BU.

The Wildcats put up 25 points in the first, but scored just 19 points between the next two quarters with the Bobcats taking advantage of 27 turnovers from BU to come away with a double-digit victory.

Alyssa Morris dropped a new season-high on Wednesday with 23 points, a game after setting the mark on Saturday with 21 points at Culver-Stockton. For the second straight game, she tied the program record with seven 3-pointers.

Leah Van Weelden finished with 13 points, while Emma Cunningham and Jaelyn Two Hearts chipped in 11 points apiece and combined for 16 of BU's 39 rebounds in the contest.

The two teams got out to a hot start in the first period with Baker nailing six of its first eight shots from three-point range. Morris and Two Hearts each sank a couple of triples in the early going with Two Hearts' three giving BU a 19-16 lead thru the first five minutes of play.

The Bobcats used five threes of their own to nearly cancel out the hot-shooting quarter for BU and knocked down the final trey to take a 28-25 lead at the end of the period.

Things would cool off for both sides in the second quarter with Baker going on a three-minute drought, but PSC didn't fare much better as Van Weelden's layup that snapped the cold stretch brought the Wildcats within three at 34-31.

Peru State closed out the first half on a 11-3 run to take a 45-34 lead into the break.

Trailing by double digits for the first time all game, the Wildcats couldn't find its first-quarter magic after the intermission with the Bobcats scoring nine of the first 11 points of the second half.

Morris swished back-to-back threes to cut it to a 12-point deficit for BU before Peru State scored six unanswered points to end the quarter and take a 62-44 lead into the fourth.

The Wildcats outscored the Bobcats, 19-16 in the final period with Morris connecting on three more from deep and Van Weelden adding a couple of buckets. Lydia Cobler and Hannah Motsinger tallied the final three points for BU as the final score settled at 78-63 in favor of PSC.

Baker closes the books on a 2023-24 season that saw them go 3-25 overall and 3-21 in conference play with 14 of their losses coming within single digits.

#BakerBuildsChampions