NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Saint Mary's basketball team came up short in an 80-42 final on Senior Day against visiting Albion on Saturday afternoon.
Albion scored on the opening possession. Saint Mary's came right back with a solid offensive set which saw high-level passing lead to a wide open layup for
Athena Samson. The Brits put back-to-back buckets on the scoreboard for a 7-2 lead two minutes into play.
Maddie Rzepka hit a tough layup, drew the foul, and converted the free throw for the three-point play on the Belles' next chance to make it a 7-5 game. Rzepka had the response bucket again a short while later with a good mid-range jump shot to cut the deficit to four at 11-7 with 4:20 still to go in the opening stanza. The teams traded points with
Elle Deardorff hitting a pair of free throws and
Anne Goralczyk connecting from just inside the three-point line to beat the shot clock as the Belles kept close at 16-11 with two minutes to go. Consecutive baskets by the Brits gave Albion a 20-11 lead late in the quarter, but
Mary Kate Gareau sunk a jumper of her own late as Saint Mary's stayed well within striking distance at 20-13 heading into the second period.
Maddie Rzepka opened the next quarter with a free throw to shave the deficit to six at 20-14. Albion, however, used an 18-0 run over the next seven-plus minutes to build a 38-14 lead with two minutes to play in the quarter.
Anne Goralczyk powered her way to a layup to break up the scoreless stretch with 1:30 to play in the half.
Christina Shadid injected some energy into the home side with a good three-pointer on the next possession to make it a 40-19 score. The Brits used a three-pointer on their final possession of the half to carry a 43-19 lead into the break.
The two sides played a tight third quarter with Albion narrowly out-scoring Saint Mary's 19-17 over the ten-minute period.
Julia Schutz got the Belles on the scoreboard to start the quarter with a driving layup.
Athena Samson hit a jumper in the paint,
Nikki Murphy used an offensive rebound to score on a pull up floating jumper on the next Belles possession, and
Maddie Rzepka scored a turnaround jumper in the paint as Saint Mary's got a balanced scoring rhythm going. Schutz and Rzepka both converted chances at the free throw line, and
Anne Goralczyk added to her scoring total with a mid-range jumper.
Nicole Connolly hit a baseline pull-up jumper 30 seconds later, but Albion almost could not miss on their offensive chances as the Belles were unable to string together a scoring run.
Despite several good looks in the fourth period, the shots just would not fall for the Belles as Albion out-scored Saint Mary's 18-6 over the final ten minutes of play.
Maddie Rzepka,
Athena Samson, and
Mary Kate Gareau each hit a bucket for the home side in the fourth quarter as the Belles fell 80-42.
Albion shot 45.1 percent (32-of-71) from the floor and 33.3 percent (7-of-21) from three-point range in the game. Saint Mary's was limited to 29.1 percent (16-of-55) from the floor and seven percent (1-of-14) from three-point distance in the contest.
The Belles (7-17, 4-11 MIAA) conclude their season on Wednesday, February 15 when they host Trine at 7:00 p.m.