LISLE, Ill. - The Benedictine University women's basketball team cruised past Concordia University Chicago 67-43 on Wednesday night to earn a first round home game in the conference tournament on Saturday.

The first half of the contest was tight throughout. Benedictine held seven point leads on two occasions. With the Eagles holding a 20-13 lead at the 8:41 marker of the first, Concordia Chicago used an 11-3 run to take the lead for the first time at 24-23 with 4:56 to play in the half. Meghan Novak drained a triple with just 43 second left in the half to tie the score and a triple from Michelle Gaede with just 12 seconds left put Benedictine in front headed to the locker room at 30-29.

Concordia Chicago never led again in the contest as Benedictine clamped down on defense in the second half. The Eagles netted 16 consecutive points as part of a run the lasted nearly six minutes to put the game out of reach. Vincenza Ranallo opened the run with a three and Novak finished the run with a three. Benedictine scored nine straight in the closing moments to roll out to a 67-40 advantage.

The Eagles limited Concordia to just 14 second half points. The visitors were just 5-of-27 from the field in the final half and finished the game shooting under 30 percent. Benedictine outrebounded Concordia 55-35 and scored 20 second chance points.

Gaede tallied 14 points to lead Benedictine. Ranallo added 12 with Novak notching 11 off the bench. Kam Haifleigh reeled in 10 rebounds.

Benedictine (13-12, 11-6 NAC) will open the conference tournament on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. as the fourth seed, welcoming Alverno.