This weekend, the Saint Mary’s basketball team competed in two matchups. They faced the North Central College Cardinals, suffering an 88-49 defeat but bounced back with a 70-66 victory over the Lake Forest Foresters.
North Central College
In the annual Morgan’s Message game, the Belles faced off against the Cardinals, but took the 88-49 loss in the season and home opener.
The first quarter was looking in favor of the Cardinals as they put up the first nine points of the quarter. Senior forward Julia Schutz put an end to the run as she added on the first four points with two layups for the Belles to make the score 9-2. The Cardinals responded by putting up seven more points for themselves. Junior guard Nicole Connolly added her first two points of the night to make the score 16-6. The Cardinals remained in the lead throughout the rest of the quarter, finishing with a three-pointer to make the score 21-13.
The second quarter looked no different as the Cardinals scored first to make the score 24-13. The Cardinals then added 11 more points to make the score 35-13. Sophomore guard Kate Restovich added her first point of the night to make the score 35-14, and Schutz added a layup to make the score 38-16 following a three-point shot from the Cardinals. Schutz added on another free throw, but the Cardinals responded with five more points. Freshman guard Ella Notaro made her debut as she put up five points for the Belles nearing the end of the quarter to make the score 43-21.
The score remained the same for the first few minutes of the third quarter as both teams went back and forth with the ball until the Cardinals broke through the Belle’s defense and scored four points. A response from freshman guard Kate Passinault in her debut added four points to make the score 48-25. The Cardinals responded, but Notaro provided a layup and a jump shot to bring the score to 52-32. The two teams continued to score, but the Cardinals came out on top, ending the third quarter leading 60-43.
The Cardinals posted the first seven points of the fourth quarter to maintain the 67-43 lead over the Belles before Passinault added two points to make the score 67-45. The Cardinals kept on scoring throughout the rest of the quarter, finishing the game with an 88-49 win.
Notaro led the way for the Belles, finishing with 14 points, while Connolly contributed 12 points to the team’s efforts.
Lake Forest
Despite their loss against North Central College, the Belles came back in their game against Lake Forest to take a close, 70-66 win.
The two teams went back and forth throughout the first portion of the game, remaining within a point of each other. But, near the end, Saint Mary’s was able to pull through and stay ahead by three.
Schutz started the first quarter by making the first six points for the Belles with the Foresters scoring just as many. With that, the Foresters gained the lead over the Belles at 10-9, but Restovich regained the lead for the Belles with two free throws. The two teams continued to go back and forth throughout the remainder of the first quarter, but Notaro and Schutz helped the Belles pull ahead at the end of the quarter with a layup to finish with a score of 19-16.
The second quarter looked no different as the two teams continued to go back and forth before Schutz put up a free throw to make the score 20-16. As the Foresters managed to make a comeback, a combined effort from Passinault and Schutz helped keep the Belles ahead as they each put up a layup to make the score 24-19. As the two teams continued to battle it out, staying within no more than five points of each other, senior guard Lauren Gumma put up a three-point shot to help the Belles pull away with a 31-25 lead. As the game became tight with a tie at 31 points, Schutz and junior guard Alyssa Matuza each added a layup. The Belles managed to stay four points ahead in the second quarter, coming in at halftime with a margin of 38-34.
Lake Forest struck first in the third quarter as it attempted to come back, but Saint Mary’s fired back. Schutz proved her place on the court as she added a three-point shot to bring the Belles ahead to 43-36 and Connolly kept the ball rolling as she scored five points to make the score 48-36. The Belles remained ahead throughout the rest of the quarter, finishing up 57-48.
With an almost 10-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, the Belles kept going as a layup from Passinault and two free throws from Restovich put the Belles in the lead after points were scored by Lake Forest. Lake Forest managed to tie up the score, and as the two teams continued to go back and forth, four free throws from Schutz put the Belles ahead, bringing the final score to 70-66.
Schutz was a standout on both ends of the court for the Belles, scoring an impressive 32 points while also dominating defensively with 17 rebounds.
The Belles now travel to play Augustana on Nov. 15 at 6 p.m.
