Career night from Hennings powers Bruins to third-straight win

LA CROSSE, Wis. -- For the second night in a row, the Bellevue University women's basketball team buried 11 three-pointers en route to a 73-54 victory over Viterbo University on Saturday afternoon at R.W. Beggs Sr. Gymnasium.

Bellevue won their third-straight game to improve to 11-13 overall and 4-5 in North Star play. Viterbo, who had won their first five NSAA contests, have now dropped two in a row to slip to 10-5 on the year and 5-2 in conference play.

Miranda Hennings scored a career-high 21 points, hitting on 5-of-7 treys and going a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe. Faith Ross scored 13 and Elexis Martinez dropped in 12 to eclipse the 2,000-point mark. Asha Scott and Laura Jurek scored eight apiece with Scott pulling down 10 boards and Jurek grabbing nine to go along with five assists.

BU started strong, using a three-pointer from Laura Jurek to open up an early 12-6 advantage. The host V-Hawks hung tough and responded by closing the period on an 8-1 run as the Bruins went the final 5:22 without a field goal.

Viterbo pushed their lead to a game-high six points on a layup from Nicole Johnson before Faith Ross kicked off a 10-0 run with a three-pointer. Another trey from Jurek along with baskets by Delaney VanBlaricon and Asha Scott put the Bruins ahead 23-19.

The runs continued as the V-Hawks engineered an 8-2 run to take a lead into the final minute of the first half but a pair of free throws by Elexis Martinez tied the game at 27-all into halftime.

Bellevue scored 10-straight to open up a 37-27 lead by the 6:39 mark of the third quarter using seven free throws and a trey from Faith Ross. The Bruins led 45-39 after three quarters.

Miranda Hennings opened sandwiched a pair of threes around a Viterbo trey to push Bellevue's lead back to nine, 51-42. Bellevue answered back-to-back baskets by Viterbo with treys from Hennings and Ross with the Bruins taking an 11-point lead with 6:39 to play.

VanBlaricon buried BU's fifth three-pointer of the quarter after a defensive stop to give Bellevue a game-high 14-point advantage.

With 1:38 to play, Martinez drove the baseline for a driving lay-up to become the first player in BU history – men's or women's – to eclipse the 2,000-point mark for her career.

The Bruins shot an exceptional 24-of-28 (85.7%) from the free throw line and 11-of-23 on three-point attempts. BU out-shot Viterbo 40-38% for the game and held the V-Hawks to just 7-of-28 on long-range attempts while ceding just 11 free throw attempts, of which Viterbo connected on seven.

Bellevue plays their final road games of the season next weekend. The Bruins face Mayville State University Friday night at 5:30 and visit Presentation College Saturday at 3 p.m.