Baker players applauds their fans after Baker University defeated Benedictine 50-34 Monday night in the semifinal round of the NAIA Women's Basketball Championship in Independence, Mo.

Independence, Mo. ? Triggered by a barrage of three-pointers and a suffocating defense, Baker University’s women’s basketball team barnstormed into tonight’s NAIA national championship game.

Baker crushed Heart of America Athletic Conference rival Benedictine, 50-34, in a semifinal on Monday night at Silverstein Eye Centers Arena, establishing a single-season school record for victories in the process.

“I don’t know if I expected us to be in that good of rhythm,” Baker coach Ben Lister said of his team knocking down its first five three-point attempts in building a 23-7 lead after one quarter and never looking back.

“I honestly thought we would come out and air-ball the first couple shots because we’re too jacked up, but, man, they settled down right away, and we hit a couple shots early. We were just ultra-aggressive in what we wanted to run, and we had a high level of execution.”

In quest of the first team national title of any sort in school history, the Wildcats (28-8) will take on MidAmerica Nazarene (31-5) in tonight’s championship game at 6:30.

“It’s unbelievable, it’s exciting, but we have no other option, we have to win it,” Baker guard Ericka Simpson said. “You can’t come this far to lose it.

“We’re going to win it all.”

Simpson scored 15 of her career-high 24 points in the first half Monday night, while center Macy Wallisch dominated the inside, as Baker’s lead crested at 36-15 at halftime after it built its 16-point edge after one period.

“It’s been awhile coming. I’ve kind of been in a drought,” said Simpson, who made 10 of 15 shots, including 3-for-5 on three-pointers, and 1-for-4 on free throws. “But I finally feel like I’m getting my shot back.

“We came out with a game plan of just stepping right on them right away and getting a big lead and having them chase us the rest of the game. That’s been our game plan the whole tournament.”

Baker forward Kelsey Larson added nine points, and guard Jami Hodge, shaking off a nasty spill which resulted in a cut on her chin, finished with seven points and six rebounds.

Baker made 21 of 52 field goals (40.4 percent), while limiting the Ravens to 11-for-50 shooting (22.0 percent).

Benedictine (29-7) was led by guard Ali Taff with 12 points.

The Wildcats only scored 14 points after halftime, but the defensive stranglehold they applied on the Ravens at the outset was enough.

“Absolutely, I feel like our energy was the most we could have had,” said Wallisch, a three-time conference defensive player of the year, who had four blocked shots — all in the opening 20 minutes.

“We knew we could get here, but just the fact that we’re actually here just gave us so much energy, and we were just so excited, especially going against one of our rivals from our own conference added to it.”

The Wildcats, leading the nation in blocked shots with a 6.0 per-game average, had 10 blocks in first half and 12 for the game.

Baker forward Sydney Buchel led the Wildcats with nine rebounds while matching Wallisch’s block total of four.

The Wildcats ushered in a 9-2 run during the opening three minutes, 16 seconds in building their commanding first-quarter lead. They knocked down their first five three-point tries, including a pair by Simpson, two by Larson and one by Hodge.

After that, the rout was on.

“I thought we shot the ball exceptionally well, but I thought we shot rhythm shots,” Lister said of his team’s early sizzle. “Benedictine really collapses hard in the middle of the lane and tries to take away the middle of the floor when we penetrate. We had to hit some kick-out threes to be able to soften them up, and we did that early.”

Baker University 50, Benedictine 34

BAKER (28-8)

Sydney Buchel 1-7 0-0 2, Kelsey Larson 3-9 1-2 9, Macy Wallisch 3-5 0-0 6, Jami Hodge 3-10 0-0 7, Ericka Simpson 10-15 1-4 24, Jessica Zweifel 0-3 0-0 0, Courtney Hoag 1-2 0-0 2, Taylor Chase 0-1 0-0 0, Mackenzie Cook 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-52 2-6 50.

BENEDICTINE (29-7)

Kristen Murphy 2-7 2-2 7, Lexie Villegas 0-5 0-2 0, Chayla Rutledge 0-5 0-0 0, Ali Taff 5-12 1-2 12, Jordan Kramer 1-9 4-4 7, LaRanda Thomas 3-5 1-2 8, Saige Baalman 0-1 0-0 0, Haylee Beard 0-1 0-0 0, Serena Parker 0-5 0-2 0. Totals 11-50 8-12 34.

Baker 23 13 6 8–50

Benedictine 7 8 6 13–34

Three-point goals — Baker 6-24 (Simpson 3-5, Larson 2-6, Hodge 1-5, Buchel 0-5, Zweifel 0-3); Benedictine 4-14 (Taff 1-3, Kramer 1-2, Murphy 1-2, Thomas 1-1, Parker 0-2, Villegas 0-2, Rutledge 0-1, Beard 0-1). Total fouls — Benedictine 14, Baker 12. Fouled out — None. Rebounds — Baker 37 (Buchel 9, Hodge 6, Larson 6, Wallisch 4); Benedictine 37 (Villegas 8, Murphy 6). Assists — Baker 9 (Buchel 3, Chase 2); Benedictine 2 (Villegas, Rutledge). Steals — Baker 6 (Hodge 2, Larson 2); Benedictine 5. Turnovers — Benedictine 11, Baker 10. Blocked shots — Baker 12 (Wallisch 4, Buchel 4, Hodge 3, Hoag 1); Benedictine 3 (Murphy 1, Baalman 1, Parker 1).