Wildcats’ Incredible Turnaround Comes Up Short Despite Huge Senior Day Victory

BALDWIN CITY - Needing both a win and a Clarke loss, the Baker women's basketball team held up its side of the regular-season finale drama with a dominating 65-42 over William Penn at home on Senior Day here Saturday.

However, the Wildcats' hopes for securing the last spot for the Heart Conference Tournament were spoiled by Clarke's 86-73 win over Peru State, bringing BU's 2024-25 season to an end.

Prior to the game, Baker honored four seniors for their dedication and contribution to the program. Those seniors included, Sophia Barrett, Destiny Kiner, Alyssa Morris and Maggie Myers.

The Wildcats put on a suffocating defensive performance to lead them to their biggest margin of victory of the conference season, holding WPU to shoot just under 32 percent from the floor (16-for-51) and by forcing 22 turnovers.

BU's leading scorers came from three of its seniors with both Morris and Kiner finishing with a game-high 19 points, while Barrett filled out the stat sheet with 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals and a block.

Morris knocked down a quick three to put BU in front early and a three from Barrett in the final couple of minutes gave the Wildcats a slight 12-11 edge at the end of the first quarter.

Then, in the second period, Baker really started to create some cushion, outscoring the Statesmen, 17-7 in the quarter to take a double-digit halftime lead. Barrett, Kiner and Taniya Tease provided the scoring for BU in the quarter with Kiner dropping nine of her 13 first-half points in the frame.

Kiner's three-point play made it a five-point lead and Barrett tacked on the final bucket in the waning seconds to mark a 29-18 lead for BU going into the intermission.

After forcing the Statesmen to shoot under 30 percent in the first half, the Wildcats continued to flex their defensive prowess in the second half, holding WPU to just one field goal through the first six minutes of the third quarter.

Meanwhile, Rihanna Blanchard pitched in on the offensive end for BU, first with an up-and-under layup off of a nice pass from Barrett and then with a three a little bit later to stretch the lead to 38-22.

A jump shot from Morris with two seconds left finished off the Wildcats' second straight 17-point quarter and gave them a 46-30 lead heading into the final quarter.

Morris swished in another long-range shot early in the fourth and added her third and final three of the game to make it a 26-point lead for Baker with less than three minutes left in the game. Kiner drained one more jumper to cap the scoring for BU as they closed out their third straight win with a 65-42 victory.

After going winless in their first part of the conference season, the Wildcats completely flipped the script in the second half, winning six of their last eight games to come within a win of making the Heart Tournament.

Since January, Baker racked up eight conference wins with an 8-5 record in their last 13 games. Six of their wins in 2025 came at home where they won six of their last seven games with their only setback coming against the Heart's regular-season champion MidAmerica Nazarene in a game in which they only trailed by six late in the third quarter.

With a 9-17 record overall, the Wildcats improved on their 4-24 record from last year and marked their third-most conference wins (8) of the last six seasons.

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