Benedictine Loses First NAC Contest

LISLE, Ill. - After earning a 29-22 halftime lead, the Benedictine University women's basketball team let Milwaukee School of Engineering out-score them 40-24 in the second half, dropping their first Northern Athletics Conference contest of the season, 62-53.

The Eagles (2-4, 1-1 NAC) took a four-point lead halfway through the first after a three-pointer from Megan Novak and a put-in from Tracey Walsh after a Jillian Lipman steal.

The Raiders (4-1, 2-0 NAC) continued to chop at the BenU lead and took a two-point advantage with less than three minutes remaining but Michelle Gaede drained two free-throws and Walsh hit a jumper to regain the lead. A final layup at the end of the half from Katie Hunzinger secured the Eagles 29-22 halftime lead.

After shooting 48.0 percent in the first half, the Eagles offense slowed down as MSOE held BenU to just 8-of-30 from the field (26.7 percent). Despite their poor shooting, Benedictine held and eight-point lead with less than nine minutes remaining.

The Raiders offense stepped up as they shot 48.1 percent in the second half, going on a 13-0 run in the final three minutes of the game to take a 57-48 lead. Kam Haifleigh put BenU within eight but it wasn't enough as MSOE went on to win 62-53.

Hunzinger tallied 13 points, six rebounds and five steals for BenU while Gaede also had 13 points and four rebounds. Novak tallied 12 points and four assists.

As a team, the Eagles were out-rebounded 62-53.

Kathleen Collingbourne led MSOE with 19 points.

The Eagles are back in action on Saturday, Dec. 3 when they host Concordia University-Wisconsin at 2:00 p.m. in the Dan and Ada Rice Center.

To view videos from the game, visit the Benedictine Athletics YouTube page www.youtube.com/BenUEagles.