The Benedictine University women's basketball team broke a five-game losing streak to Aurora, scoring an 82-72 victory in overtime to advance to the NACC Tournament Semifinals and end Aurora's season.
Megan Duzansky hit a three on the opening possession of the contest as Benedictine netted the first eight points, keeping Aurora off the board for nearly five minutes.A
Makenzie Carroll three-pointer and a basket from
Allison Jarvis put Benedictine up 11 and the team led 13-6 after the first. Aurora scored the first 11 points of the second and led for most of the quarter but consecutive threes from
Olympia Kokkines and Jarvis handed Benedictine the lead, an advantage that sat at 28-26 at the break.
Benedictine led for nearly the entire third and carried a 42-39 edge into the final 10 minutes. The hosts used another big run early in the fourth to open an eight-point lead halfway through the quarter. Trailing by four point in the final minute, Carroll hit a huge three and after Aurora split two free throws drove down to sink the tying field goal with 1.7 left, sending the game to overtime. Benedictine dominated the extra session, scoring the first five points. After Aurora pulled within 68-67,
Hailey Bachmann posted the first five points of an 11-0 run to put the game away and send Benedictine to the semifinals for the first time since the 2021-22 season.
Jarvis and Carroll both posted career days. Jarvis tallied 29 points with Carroll adding 20. Kokkines logged 13 off the bench with
Alexis Schueler also hitting double figures with 10. Benedictine shot 50 percent in the fourth quarter and overtime, finishing the game at 40 percent. The team was outrebounded 51-37 in the win.
Benedictine (15-11) will head to top-seeded St. Norbert on Thursday night at 7pm.
