Belles Tripped Up by Knights

Box Score

• Ally Steve led the Belles with 14 points.
• Kelsey Ronan added eight points.
• Erin Maloney paced the team with six rebounds, four assists, and three steals.

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Saint Mary's basketball team could not overcome a first-half deficit in an 82-37 loss to Calvin on Saturday afternoon.

The Knights put the first 12 points on the scoreboard by hitting five of their first six shots from the floor. Kelsey Ronan put the Belles on the board with four consecutive free throws midway through the quarter. The senior added the next two points by the home side with a layup on a nicely fed pass by Olivia Lathers to make it a 17-6 contest in favor of the visiting Knights. Calvin added eight points to Saint Mary's one over the final four-plus minutes of the quarter to hold a 25-7 lead at the first break.

Neither team was able to generate a lot of offense to open the second quarter as the two sides missed their first ten shots combined. The Knights broke that scoring drought with a layup at 7:52, but the score remained 27-7 until the clock moved below five minutes in the quarter. Gabby Crown hit the tail end of a two-shot trip to the free throw line only to see the Knights respond with a layup and a three-point play to extend the lead to 32-8 with 4:39 remaining before the half. Over the last four minutes of the second quarter, Calvin outscored Saint Mary's 12-2 to take a 44-10 lead into halftime.

The Belles were far from giving up in the contest as Saint Mary's came out in the third quarter and continued to fight. Ally Steve opened the half by slicing through the lane and hitting a layup almost a minute into the third quarter. A short while later, Kelsey Ronan came up with an immediate response to a Calvin jump shot with a good jumper of her own. Delaney Rohlman hit an acrobatic shot midway through the quarter as the Belles continued to match the Knights in the period. Calvin put eight consecutive points on the scoreboard, but Megan Will drained a three-pointer and Gabby Diamond hit a layup in transition as the Belles matched the Knights blow for blow in the third quarter.

Ally Steve hit a three-pointer to open the final quarter. A short while later, Erin Maloney picked up an offensive rebound at the top of the key and threaded a pass to the left post where Gabby Diamond had an open layup. Delaney Rohlman and Caroline Macius added a pair of free throws each, Steve had a pair of threes, and Aspen Davis sunk a free throw as the Belles posted their highest scoring quarter of the game in the fourth period.

Calvin out-rebounded Saint Mary's 55-32 in the game while making 33-of-72 (45.8 percent) of their shots from the floor to the Belles' 10-of-52 (19.2 percent) shooting night.

Ally Steve led the Belles with 14 points. Kelsey Ronan added eight points. Erin Maloney paced the team with six rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Gabby Diamond pulled down five rebounds and tallied four points, and Delaney Rohlman scored four points for the Belles.

The Belles (1-7, 0-3 MIAA) are away from competition during finals week and return to action on Saturday, December 17 when they travel to Adrian for a 3:00 p.m. contest.