The Saint Mary’s basketball team faced Olivet College for their third-to-last game of the season on Wednesday night. The Belles made the trip to Michigan to play on the Comets’ home court, where a series of missed shots set them back and cost them the match. Olivet ultimately earned a 81-48 win over the Belles.
The first quarter started off with both teams scoring quickly on each other. The Belles got ahead on the scoreboard with a 7-3 lead. Junior forward Athena Samson scored two layups for four of the points, and senior guard Maddie Rzepka made a three-point jump shot less than a minute into the game. The next few minutes, however, saw less scoring from the Belles and a quick comeback from Olivet. Two Comet free throws and a layup helped them match Saint Mary’s at 7-7.
From there, both teams continuously fought for possession. The score changed with a few points from the Comets, but remained at 11-7 for over a minute until senior guard Christina Shadid made a jump shot. That was immediately followed by another layup from Olivet. Junior forward Anne Goralczyk made a jump shot late in the quarter, but from there the score remained untouched for nearly two minutes, until Olivet scored two more points. The first quarter closed with Olivet leading 15-11.
The Comets started the second quarter with four quick points in the first minute. It wasn't until a minute later that Rzepka made her second three-point shot of the night. Sophomore guard Lauren Gumma followed up with another three-pointer. Senior guard Nikki Murphy made yet another three-point shot and scored another two points to close the gap and give the Belles a 22-21 advantage. The Comets, however, came back strong and regained a 30-23 lead fairly quickly. The quarter closed out with a score of 34-25 after another shot from Goralczyk.
Olivet kicked it into high gear in the second half. They widened the gap and set the score to 46-29 by the middle of the third quarter. After a number of subs entered the game during the first half of the quarter, a three-point shot from Gumma and another two points from Samson brought up the Belles’ score. It was still not enough to catch up to the Comets, who continued to score. The Comets led 50-36 going into the fourth quarter.
Due to a number of fouls committed by Saint Mary’s, the Comets had several free throw opportunities during the final quarter. This helped them score a whopping 31 points in the final quarter. Belles junior guard Elle Deardorff made a three-point shot in the quarter, and Rzepka added yet another three-pointer. After two free throws from junior forward Nyah Porter, the Belles closed out another tough match ending in a loss.
The Belles have two more games left in their season, against Albion and Trine. They have played both opponents in earlier games this season.
