Box Score
LISLE, Ill. – The Edgewood College women's basketball team traveled to Benedictine University to play in the Northern Athletics Conference Tournament quarterfinals. The Eagles held Benedictine's three-point shooting down but Edgewood College did not shoot well on the offensive end as they fell 52-49 on Wednesday night.
The first half was a half of runs and Edgewood College (14-12) opened half with a 5-0. Amber Hemp opened the scoring two and a half minutes in with a three-point basket. Lexie Schmitgen gave the Eagles a 5-0 lead just a half a minute later with a layup. In her final game as an Eagle, Schmitgen finished with four points, seven rebounds and two assists.
Benedictine (14-11) followed that run with a 9-0 run of their own before Edgewood College rolled off eight straight points. Shae Beckwith capped the streak with her only three-point basket of the game to give Edgewood College a 16-13 lead with 7:16 left in the first half.
After the teams were tied at 18, Benedictine scored nine of the next ten points before Edgewood College went on another run. Hemp started the 7-0 run with a layup, Emily Decorah followed that with a three-point basket and Hannah Schultz hit two free throws with 12 seconds left to cut the deficit to 27-26 at halftime. Schultz grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds to go along with five points in her final game in an Eagle uniform.
In the first frame, Edgewood College scored 19 points off of 14 Benedictine turnovers. However, Edgewood College shot only 26.5 percent (9-for-34) from the floor in the half while Benedictine shot 40.7 percent (11-for-27) from the field.
Edgewood College fell behind by five points early in the second half, but they fought back and took the lead at 32-31 after a pair of Beckwith free throws with 15:52 left. Benedictine regained the lead on a Monika Krozel three-point basket before Edgewood College went on another run.
This time, Edgewood College scored eight consecutive points to take a 40-34 lead with 11:28 to go. Brittany Bylsma started the run with a layup and a free throw and Hemp ended it with another layup. Benedictine then began to work their way back and regained the lead on another Krozel three-point basket. Deocrah answered with a layup to give Edgewood College a slim 43-42 lead with 6:31 left.
Benedictine's Jenn Bren nailed a couple free throws to give the lead back to Benedictine just 33 seconds later. Edgewood College would cut the deficit to one point twice over the final five minutes but could not get over the hump as Benedictine took the 52-49 victory.
Edgewood College only shot 27 percent (17-for-63) from the field, including 21.7 percent (5-for-23) from three-point range in the contest. However, the Eagles did a good job of holding down the top three-point shooting team in the conference, as they held Benedictine to 26.3 percent (5-for-19) from distance. Edgewood College also scored 26 points off of 22 Benedictine turnovers and snared 49 rebounds to Benedictine's 40 boards.
Hemp led the Eagles with 17 points while Decorah was the Edgewood College's next leading scorer with eight points. Tracey Walsh led Benedictine with 11 points and was their only player to reach double figures.
With the loss, Edgewood College finishes Head Coach Casey Thousand's first season with a 14-12 record. Benedictine advances to the conference tournament semifinals on Friday night when they will travel to take on first seeded Concordia University Wisconsin.
