Fayette, Mo. - The Central Methodist women's basketball program cruised past Heart South Division foe Benedictine College 75-58 in the Heart Tournament semifinals Saturday night inside Puckett Field House.
With the win, the Eagles improve their overall record to 27-4 and punch their ticket to the Heart Championship game for the second time in the last three seasons. Benedictine falls to 21-10.
Tied at 4-4 in the first two minutes of the game, Central used a 5-0 scoring run to take a 9-4 lead. The Ravens tied the game at 11-11 after a made three-point basket. However, Central scored nine of the final 11 points to take a 20-13 lead at the end of the first quarter.
CMU's offense continued their hot shooting into the second, as they stretched their lead to as many as 20 points in the waning minutes of the second quarter. The Eagles would ultimately take a 39-25 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Benedictine would outscore Central 20-19 in the third, but the Eagles' stingy defense held BC without any sort of offense run in the final frame, going on to earn a 17-point victory.
Four Eagles cracked double figures, led by Leianya Massenat with 15 points and Eternati Willock with 14. Junior forward Robin Beck tallied a career-high 12 points, all coming from beyond the three-point arc.
Arleighshya McElroy rounded out the double digit scorers with 11 points. She stuffed the stat sheet with eight rebounds, seven assists, and a steal.
Willock also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds to complete another double-double performance. In addition, the junior forward tallied three blocks and two steals. Daryna Bachkarova finished the evening with nine points and five assists.
Collectively, the Eagles shot a cool 52.6-percent from the floor and nine-of-20 from beyond the arc for 45-percent, their best outing from long range so far this season.
Central outrebounded the Ravens 38-28 and forced 15 turnovers.
The Eagles will meet Clarke University in the Heart Championship game on Tuesday, March 1 at 6:00 p.m. in Dubuque, Iowa. The Pride took the lone regular season matchup between the two sides, 81-71, back on Jan. 22.
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