Ben Lister, head coach of the Baker University women’s basketball team, experienced his first five game winning streak at BU after the Wildcats defeated Evangel University 70-52 on Saturday in the Collins Center.

Baker improved to 16-8 overall and 9-3 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference after closing out the game against Evangel on a 24-5 run.

“I felt like it was an outstanding overall team performance,” Lister said. “…The energy and toughness that we were missing against Graceland on Thursday showed up tonight. You have to have those components to beat Evangel and I thought we had an abundance of those today so I’m very proud.”

Despite the fact that Baker leads the conference in rebounding, Lister thinks that his team had “gotten away from being a great rebounding team,” in the past couple of games. His mind changed on Saturday, though, as the Wildcats out rebounded Evangel 37-23.

“I really challenged them in practice,” Lister said. “(Rebounding) has got to be our priority, with or without our leading rebounder on the floor. We’re good enough to rebound the ball against anybody with our size and athleticism, and they took that to heart today.”

While the team’s leading rebounder, sophomore Rashida Simpson, is still benched due to a violation of team rules, senior Rece Huddlin stepped up to lead the team in both rebounds and scoring. Huddlin pulled down a total of 10 boards against Evangel and racked up 19 points as well.

Lister is unsure when he will have Simpson back in action, but is prepared for a battle with or without her in next week’s matchup against Peru State.

Baker beat Peru State 76-69 earlier in the season, but the Bobcats’ Courtney Ward managed to score 30 points and pull down 11 rebounds against the Wildcats.

“We’re going to have our hands full with Courtney and it’s going to take a team effort whether we have Rashida back or not,” Lister said.

Peru State will also be equipped with Adaugo Osuala, a guard who averages 16 points per game, that wasn’t in the lineup the first time Baker played the Bobcats. Lister thinks Osuala “makes a huge difference” for the Bobcats.

The Wildcats will hit the road to play the Bobcats at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in Peru, Neb.