Pair of Griffins Reach Milestone on Same Night

A sweep of the regular-season series over Iowa Wesleyan, tying the program record with 14 SLIAC wins, and seeing both Rylee Stafford and Raven Venegas reach 1,000 career points on its home floor, it truly was a night to remember for the women's basketball team.

Final: Fontbonne 84, Iowa Wesleyan 50

Location: DSAC

Records: Fontbonne (15-9; 14-3 SLIAC), Iowa Wesleyan (5-19; 5-12 SLIAC)

How It Happened

Both Stafford and Raven Venegas were aggressive early trying to get to 1,000 points as the duo led the charge to give Fontbonne a 15-6 lead at the 3:28 mark on Raven Venegas bucket.

The Griffins held its lead the rest of the way to own a 17-11 advantage after one. Raven Venegas, who needed 15 points before tonight's game, was already at 12 after one quarter. Stafford, meanwhile, needed just eight and had five in 10 minutes of action.

In the second quarter, a bucket form Mallory Proffer had Fontbonne ahead 22-15 with 4:50 remaining. Then, at 3:35, Stafford drained her 3-pointer to become the eighth Griffin all-time to reach 1,000 career points.

The Tigers kept hanging around as Morgan McCrea's layup made it a 25-22 contest with 54.0 seconds remaining. Riley Guffey made both free throws on the ensuing possession to give Fontbonne a 27-22 lead at the break.

In the third, a quick 5-0 run from Fontbonne gave them the 32-22 lead on Stafford's 3-pointer. The offense kept rolling along from there as Guffey's 3-pointer extended the lead out to 42-26 with 5:06 remaining.

At 3:27, Raven Venegas got the ball down low and she was fouled on the play. The Racine, Wis., native, stepped to the line and hit her free throw to give her 1,000 career points. She is the ninth player all-time to reach the prestigious mark and was the third-fastest to do so right behind Stafford (74 games) and Laurie Kralemann (73 games).

She went on to make her second free throw to give Fontbonne a 44-30 lead at 3:27. They held that double-digit lead as the clock ticked away and headed into the fourth leading by 18 (53-35).

In the fourth, after Guffey made both free throws the Griffins led 61-41 at 7:08. After Harriet Fowler made both her free throws two minutes later, the Griffins put the game away for good closing out on a 23-9 run for the 84-50 victory.

Inside The Numbers

• The Griffins shot 42.9 percent from the floor and drained 10 3-pointers.
• The team outrebounded Iowa Wesleyan 36-31 and controlled the paint with a 40-28 advantage.
• The Griffins bench outscored IWU, 32-0.
• The Tigers shot 39.6 percent from the field.

Iowa Wesleyan Leaders

• Allie Massner led with a team-high 14 points.
• Morgan McCrea and Maddie Williamson added 11 and 10, respectively.

Fontbonne Leaders

• Stafford ended with a game-high 22 points and now has 1,014 in her career.
• Raven Venegas added 16 points on 7-of-16 shooting. She's sitting at 1,001 points in her career.
• Riley Guffey had a strong game off the bench with 13 points and seven boards.

Up Next

The team heads on over to Principia on Saturday to close out the regular season. Tip-off at 1 p.m.

STORY COURTESY OF FONTBONNE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION