Box Score BOX SCORE

CHICAGO, Ill. - The Benedictine University women's basketball team opened up the 2011-2012 season at North Park University, falling to the Vikings, 49-47, on Tuesday night.

The Eagles (0-1) jumped out to a five-point lead after a jumper from senior Tracey Walsh in the first minutes of play. North Park quickly gained a four-point lead after a 5-0 run. Neither team scored again until the seven-minute mark when Michelle Gaede drained a three-pointer. A jumper by Katie Hunzinger gave Benedictine a 16-15 lead. Both teams traded buckets for the remainder of the half to give NPU a 22-20 lead at the half.

Benedictine shot 40.9 percent in the first half while holding North Park to a 29.0 shooting percentage. The Vikings improved their shooting in the second half, jumping out to a 12-point lead, 40-28. The Eagles slowly began chopping away at the lead with layups from Gaede and Walsh to get them within three with under three minutes remaining. A free throw from North Park made the score 46-42 and an NPU layup gave the Vikings a six-point lead with two minutes left in the game.

A layup from Walsh and a free-throw from Hunzinger cut their deficit to just three but North Park would also sink a free-throw. With just under 30 seconds remaining, Megan Novak sank a pair of free throws to get the Eagles within two but the Vikings defense held strong as North Park went on to win 49-47.

Gaede led all players with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting while also tallying six rebounds. Walsh also scored in double-digits with 10 points and had four rebounds and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. Kam Haifleigh had seven rebounds and seven points. As a team, BenU shot 38.1 percent from the floor (16-for-42) and were 80.0 percent from the free throw line (12-for-15).

Sarah Peterson led North Park with 12 points while Roxanne Jones had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

The Benedictine women's basketball team is back in action this weekend when they compete in the University of Chicago Tournament. The Eagles take on Macalester College at 5:00 p.m. on Friday night.