LISLE, IL - The Benedictine University women's basketball team rallied from down nine in the second half to upend visiting Aurora University and remain unbeaten in the NACC.

FINAL SCORE
Benedictine 60, Aurora 57

THE DETAILS
• Benedictine played from behind most of the contest, leading for just over 2:30 of the night
• It took nearly three full minutes for either team to score as Benedictine fell behind 8-1 in the opening quarter, struggling from the field to make only two field goals
• Aurora led 13-7 after the opening 10 minutes of play and held a 20-10 lead three minutes into the second as Benedictine continued to struggle from the field
• Down 22-12 with 6:35 to play in the first half, Brianna Lake knocked down two free throws as Benedictine used a 13-1 run to come back and lead for the first time at 25-23 on two free throws from Claire Gibler
• A free throw enabled Aurora to take a 28-27 lead into the locker room at halftime
• Benedictine opened the second half with consecutive baskets from two of the top players in the conference, Alex Fanning and Allison Michalski, to jump ahead briefly at 31-28
• Lake splashed in a three-pointer at the 6:32 mark to hand Benedictine a 38-36 edge, but Aurora responded with a 10-0 run to lead 46-38 and took a 48-43 lead into the fourth
• The visitors scored the first four points of the fourth on free throws to lead 52-43 with 6:42 to go
• Michalski scored the first four points of a 9-0 run, combining with Fanning to help Benedictine tie the score at 52-52 with 3:19 remaining on two free throws from Michalski
• Aurora scored the next three points to lead 55-52 with 2:40 left but would not score again until less than 10 seconds remained in the contest as the Benedictine defense clamped down
• Benedictine finished 8-of-8 from the line down the stretch with Michalski making two around a pair of Aurora timeouts to give Benedictine a 56-55 lead in the final minute and Fanning splashing down a pair to turn it into a three-point game at 58-55
• Britney Pitzer iced the win with two free throws as Benedictine outscored Aurora 17-9 in the fourth quarter
• The win kept Benedictine undefeated at home this season, stretching a win streak to 22 games that dates back to the end of the 2017-18 season
• Benedictine remains two games ahead of the rest of the NACC with nine games left
• The meeting marked the only contest of the season between the two programs

STAT LEADERS
• Benedictine finished 19-for-21 from the line in the game, making up for struggling from the field
• Benedictine shot just 29 percent in the contest including just 11 percent in the first and 23 percent in the fourth
• Aurora, who suffered a fourth straight loss and a third by less than 10 points, also struggled against the Benedictine defense, shooting just 28.6 percent on the night
• Benedictine held a 51-38 edge on the glass
• Michalski led all scorers with 23 points, finishing 7-of-8 from the line and adding eight rebounds and three steals
• Fanning battled foul trouble in the second half but managed to fall just short of a double-double with nine points and 17 rebounds, matching a career high on the glass
• Pitzer and Lake both notched 12 points; The 12 points for Lake marked a career high

UP NEXT
Benedictine (14-2, 11-0 NACC) continues a run through the other top teams in the conference with a trip to Dominican on Saturday afternoon