The Central Methodist University women's basketball team made its free throws down the stretch to seal a 55-49 win over Culver-Stockton College Thursday night on senior night at Puckett Field House.
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In a back-and-forth second half, CMU and Culver-Stockton traded leads eight times and played to seven ties. Culver-Stockton took a 47-44 lead with 3:07 left in the game, but the Lady Eagles answered with a three-pointer by freshman Raylyn Nuss (O'Fallon, Mo.), which tied the game with 2:41 remaining. A basket and free throw by junior Jazmynn Hutchings (Des Moines, Iowa) gave CMU the lead for good 35 seconds later. A basket by Culver-Stockton cut the lead to 51-49 with 52 seconds left in the game, but the Lady Eagles capitalized on two key Culver-Stockton turnovers, and seniors Britney Westbrook (Columbia, Miss.) and Jillian Palan (Lathrop, Mo.) each made two free throws to finish the game and seal the 55-49 win for CMU.
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The Lady Eagles overcame a slow start as they were held scoreless for more than six minutes to open the game. Nuss finally put CMU on the scoreboard with a basket with 13:36 left in the first half. Central Methodist then quickly turned a 10-2 deficit into a 19-11 lead, capping the run with a basket by Hutchings. The Lady Eagles took their largest lead of the game at 24-15 with 2:04 left in the first half after another Hutchings basket. Culver-Stockton scored with eight seconds left in the period to cut the CMU lead to 28-22 at halftime.
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Central Methodist shot 34.6 percent from the field in the game, compared with 39.1 percent for Culver-Stockton. The Lady Eagles finished with 16 points from the free-throw line, while Culver-Stockton made just 9-of-18 free-throw attempts. The CMU defense forced Culver-Stockton to commit 24 turnovers in the game, including 15 steals for the Lady Eagles. Central Methodist also finished with a rebounding advantage of 35-28, including 14 offensive boards for CMU.
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Westbrook closed out her career at Central Methodist with a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds, while also grabbing a team-high five steals. Hutchings also had a big game, finishing with 16 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals for the Lady Eagles. Nuss tallied 11 points, including three three-pointers, while Palan finished with seven points and six rebounds in the final game of her collegiate career. Senior Taija Bennett (Aurora, Ill.) added four steals for CMU.
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With the win, the Lady Eagles finished the season with an 11-19 record overall and 5-15 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference. Central Methodist also honored its five seniors following the game: Westbrook, Palan, Bennett, Brooke Higginbotham (Martinsville, Ill.), and Brittany Elliott (Chicago, Ill.).