Belles Fall to No. 25 Knights

Box Score

• Gabby Diamond led all players with 19 points after hitting 50.0 percent of her shots from the floor.
• Ally Steve added eight points on the afternoon.
• Megan Will and Kelsey Ronan each tallied seven points and four rebounds.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Turnovers proved to be costly in the Saint Mary's basketball team's 84-49 loss to No. 25 (WBCA Top 25 Coaches' Poll) Calvin on Saturday afternoon.

The Belles matched the Knights blow for blow throughout much of the opening quarter of play. Calvin claimed a 4-0 lead, but Gabby Diamond and Megan Will put two quick baskets on the board to knot the score a minute and a half into play as the Knights called an early timeout. Two scoreless minutes were broken with a fastbreak layup by the Knights. This time, Ally Steve had the response by sinking a pair of free throws after being fouled on a drive to the hoop. Calvin broke the deadlock a minute later with a free throw, but the Belles continued to be strong on the glass and limited the Knights' chances. After a pair of possessions did not yield any points for the Belles, Calvin established an 11-6 edge with under three minutes left on the clock. The Saint Mary's scoreless drought continued over the next two minutes as the Knights pushed their lead to 18-8 with 28 seconds remaining in the period. A late offensive board followed by a pair of passes led to a good jumper by Caroline Macius just before the buzzer as the Belles cut the deficit to 18-10 while heading into the second quarter with momentum.

That energy immediately carried over into the second period as Ally Steve hit a jump shot to open the quarter to make it an 18-12 score. A short while later, Diamond and Steve hit consecutive shots for the Belles as Saint Mary's pulled within five points at 21-16 with over seven minutes left on the clock. The Knights, however, responded with a 20-2 run over the next five and a half minutes to push their lead to 41-18. Diamond added a second-chance bucket on the Belles' last possession of the period to make it a 41-20 game at the half.

Diamond started the third quarter with a layup to make it a 19-point game early. Calvin used another scoring spurt - this time a 18-4 run - to increase the lead to 59-26 with 4:43 remaining on the clock. The two sides played a tight final three minutes of the quarter as Saint Mary's outscored Calvin 8-7 during the last stretch of the period.

The Belles posted their highest-scoring quarter of the game while limiting the Knights to their lowest-scoring stanza of the contest in the fourth period. Calvin held at least a 30-point lead over the final ten minutes of play on the way to the 84-49 final

The Belles connected on 12 of 13 attempts from the free throw line (92.3 percent) for their most efficient effort from the charity stripe all season. Calvin outscored Saint Mary's 31-9 in points off of turnovers while also holding a 17-6 scoring edge in second-chance points.

Gabby Diamond led all players with 19 points after hitting 50.0 percent of her shots from the floor. The junior also paced the Belles with eight rebounds. Ally Steve added eight points, and Megan Will and Kelsey Ronan each tallied seven points and four rebounds.

The Belles (1-18, 0-11 MIAA) return home to host Adrian on Wednesday, February 1 at 7:30 p.m.