HOLLAND, Mich. - The Saint Mary's basketball team fought until the end in an 80-46 setback against No. 3 ranked Hope on Saturday evening.
The Belles started the game with a defensive stop as
Bella Dugas came away with a strong steal on Hope's first possession of the contest. After Hope used a second-chance opportunity to score a layup for a 2-0 advantage, but
Christina Shadid gave Saint Mary's the lead a minute later with a three-pointer from the left wing. Both sides hit a stretch where buckets were tough to buy as the Belles could not get a shot to fall. Hope built a 12-3 lead over the next five minutes of play before
Jasmyne Townsend found an open lane on the right side of the court and hit the layup to make it 12-5. The Flying Dutch, however, extended their lead by adding six points over the final two-plus minutes of the quarter for an 18-5 advantage.
Hope opened the second stanza with a 10-0 run over a span of three minutes.
Claire Bartz got on the scoresheet with a layup, and
Morgan Flynn tallied back-to-back layups.
Maddie Rzepka added a layup of her own, but the Belles were unable to string together enough buckets to make a considerable run against the Flying Dutch as Hope held a 42-13 lead at the half.
Saint Mary's continued to battle down the stretch as the team posted their best shooting quarter of the game in the third period.
Morgan Flynn hit both shots she took in the quarter, and
Julia Schutz added five points in the quarter. The last ten minutes of action saw the Belles out-score the Flying Dutch by a 16-14 margin with
Lauren Gumma draining two three-pointers and
Jasmyne Townsend tallying eight points.
The Belles (5-16, 4-8 MIAA) return home for their final home contest as they host Olivet on Wednesday, February 9 at 7:00 p.m.
