(Peru, Neb.)—The Peru State women's basketball team fell to Evangel 82-73 Saturday afternoon. The Bobcats fall to 5-8 overall and 1-6 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play while the Valor improve to 6-6 overall and 5-2 in the Heart.
Below is a breakdown of how the game went…
It was a low scoring affair in the first quarter as Peru State and Evangel could not get its offenses going in the first quarter.
Kaylan Larry (Little Rock, Ark.) gave the Bobcats a two-point 8-6 lead halfway through the first quarter.
Evangel then went on a 10-0 run to take a 16-8 lead with around two minutes to go in the first.
Jescenia Mosley (Shenandoah, Iowa) stopped the run with a layup of her own. The Valor took an eight-point 20-12 lead heading into the second quarter of play.
Evangel stretched its lead to ten right away in the second quarter, but the Bobcats then went on a 5-0 run to make the score 22-17 after a layup from
Josiee Sobotka (Tobias) and three-point basket from
Maddy Duncan (Hamburg, Iowa).
The Bobcats cut the deficit to five a few more times the latest one coming after
Hailey Ingram (Omaha) knocked in two free throws to make the score 26-21. Evangel then pushed its lead out to nine up 30-21 with around four minutes to play in the half.
Peru State then cut the lead down to six after a free throw from Sobotka making the score 31-24 Valor. Evangel then went on a 7-0 run a little later in the second quarter to take a 39-25 lead with a minute to play in the half.
The Bobcats only scored three more points in the quarter as the Valor took a 45-28 lead into the break. Duncan hit a three right out of the break to cut the deficit down to 14 trailing 45-31.
Evangel would get the lead right back out to 17 leading 50-33 with above eight minutes to play in the third quarter. Peru State then cut the Evangel lead down to 11 after a jumper by
Julie Miller (Easton, Kan.) with five minutes to go in the third.
Unfortunately, the Valor hit threes on back-to-back possessions to make the score 60-43 . Peru State showed its resolve as they went on a 10-2 run to close out the quarter only trailing by nine 62-53.
Contributing to the run were free throws by
Danielle Howard (Uniontown, Kan.), Duncan and Sam Stewart
(Mount Ayr, Iowa). Stewart and Miller also contributed to the run with a few baskets.
In the fourth quarter, the Bobcats cut the lead to four down 64-60 after baskets by Stewart and Larry as well as a three by Duncan. Evangel would get its lead back out to seven a few more times in the fourth quarter leading 69-62.
The Valor then hit a three to go up ten with 4:24 to play in the game. The Bobcats a little later in the fourth would go on a 7-0 run to trail by only five after Stewart made a couple of free throws as they were down 76-71 with under a minute to play.
Peru State unfortunately could not close the gap any further falling to Evangel 83-72.
Peru State shot 23-of-53 from the field shooting 43.3%, 3-of-12 from beyond the arc shooting 25% and 24-of-29 shooting 82.8% from the free throw line.
Evangel shot 24-of-68 from the field shooting 35.3%, 3-of-17 from deep shooting 17.6% and were 31-of-38 from the line shooting 81.6%.
Peru State outscored Evangel 36-32 in the paint, 13-11 in points off turnovers but were outscored 41-22 in bench points.
Stewart led the team in points with 16, Duncan had 15, Mosley and Miller had ten each. Miller led the team in rebounds with six and Sobotka had a team high four assists.
That was Peru State's final game of the semester and will be off until Wednesday, January 4, when they hit the road to take on Graceland in Lamoni, Iowa. Tip-Off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
