Saint Mary's fought its way through a tough game against Ohio Wednesday until before falling 82-60, dropping their record to 3-2.
The Belles were down 82-56 until the last 10 seconds of the game when freshman guard Annie Doyle sunk back-to-back shots off of a steal by Jessica Centa and a takeaway of her own with two seconds left on the clock.
Saint Mary's started the game off strong with a layup from sophomore guard Katie Sullivan, but quickly fell behind as the Belles' scoring troubles began. After a string of missed shots, fouls and turnovers by the Belles, the Polar Bears pulled ahead 16-13 with 10 minutes left in the first half.
The end of the first period was marked with Saint Mary's consistently missing its shots and Ohio Northern getting the defensive rebound. Sophomore forward Kelley Murphy did manage to attempt four shots from the line, missing two, at the end of the period.
The Belles also scored on two free throws from Centa, a 3-pointer from Sullivan and a series of layups by Murphy and senior forward Anna Kammrath but still trailed 42-29 at the break.
Saint Mary's came back on the court hoping to close the gap, but the shots weren't falling for the Belles as they missed 3-pointers, layups and even free throws throughout the second period.
The Polar Bears went on a scoring drive at the start of the half, stretching their lead to 18 with 10 minutes remaining.
The Belles began shooting better, but weren't able to find consistent success and Ohio Northern's lead increased to 59-41.
Each time the Belles made a scoring run, Ohio Northern would respond and pull away.
The Polar Bears outshot the Belles 52 percent to 32 percent from the floor, and out-rebounded them 43-40.
Each team had 26 turnovers, with the Belles scoring 23 points off of them and the Polar Bears 22.
Kammrath led Saint Mary's in points with 13, and was tied for second in steals with three.
Junior guard Liz Wade had eight assists and three steals in the game.
Sophomore guard Patsy Mahoney chipped in 10 points and five rebounds, sophomore Kelley Murphy had eight points with seven rebounds and sophomore guard Maggie Ronan put in 10 points and seven rebounds.
Up next for the Belles is the start of MIAA competition as they host conference foe Trine Saturday at 3 p.m.
