After three straight ugly showings on offense, Saint Mary's delivered a better performance to begin a three-game road stretch on Wednesday night. However, it still wasn't enough to take down a high-level opponent, as No. 4 Hope pulled away in the middle quarters, beating the Belles 79-51.
The Flying Dutch did the majority of their damage in the second and third quarters, outscoring Saint Mary's by 21 points in the middle 20 minutes. However, Hope never trailed throughout the contest, taking the lead for good just over five minutes in. The Belles shot just 32.1% from the field, a better performance than their last two games but still an unspectacular mark. Though they did hit 3 more shots from beyond the arc, Saint Mary's lost this game inside. Hope outscored the Belles by 30 points in the paint, in large part due to out-rebounding their opponents 52-31. Hope also won the turnover battle 17-12 and recorded 8 more points off turnovers.
Hope's depth was on full display in front of their home fans, with more than half of their points coming from the bench. Olivia Bellows put up 16 points, the most of any player on the night. No member of the Flying Dutch played more than 16 minutes, as head coach Brian Morehouse was able to trust everyone he put on the court.
For the Belles, freshman guards Annie Restovich and Kate Restovich led the team with 15 and 10 points, respectively. Of Annie's 14 field goal attempts, only one was from inside the 3-point line. The rest of Saint Mary's attempted 11 3-pointers combined. Senior forward Athena Samson produced a game-high 14 rebounds.
Saint Mary's will seek to end their four-game losing streak on Saturday on the road against Kalamazoo. The game tips off at 1 p.m.
Sign up for our Observer Sports newsletter!
Have an Irish sports question? Ask it for our Observer Sports mailbag!
