Saint Mary's dropped a league contest for the first time Wednesday night as the host Belles fell 77-72 to Albion.
Saint Mary's went on an 11-1 run midway through the second half to take a 48-47 lead. But the Belles could not maintain the advantage. Albion took the lead on its next possession and did not trail for the remainder of the game.
With the loss, the Belles fell to 8-7 overall, including a 6-1 mark in MIAA action. The Brits, meanwhile, improved to 8-6 overall and 3-3 against conference opponents.
Albion built a nine-point lead late in the first half after going on a 14-4 run. But the Belles answered shortly before halftime.
Seniors Meghan Conaty and Erin Newsom both converted layups before intermission to cut the Albion lead to six.
But the Brits came out firing after halftime and took a commanding 46-37 advantage.
Newsom led the Belles with 18 points and eight rebounds. Freshman guard Patsy Mahoney added 16 points on 6-of-9 field goal shooting but it was not enough.
Albion had a big advantage from the foul line as they made 20 free throws to the Belles' 12. The Brits made 83.3 percent of their attempts from the line while Saint Mary's converted just 60 percent.
Along with Newsom and Mahoney, senior Nicole Beier and freshman Kelley Murphy scored in double figures for Saint Mary's.
The Belles remain a half-game ahead of Hope for first place in the MIAA standings, and will look to rebound next Wednesday when they travel to take on Kalamazoo.
