NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Saint Mary's basketball team fell in a 96-60 final against Calvin on Saturday afternoon.

 

After the Knights took a 5-0 lead, the Belles got right back in the mix with a good three-pointer by Kate Restovich. Two possessions later, Annie Restovich added a triple of her own to keep the Belles close at 9-6. Calvin countered with a quick six-point spurt before Nicole Connolly hit a tough layup to make it a seven-point game. Lauren Gumma pulled up on the fastbreak and drained a three-pointer of her own, and Saint Mary's edged within 18-11 with just under four minutes to go in a fast-paced first period. Connolly connected on both ends of a trip to the charity stripe to make it 18-13 with three minutes to play. The Knights, however, used an 11-0 run over the next two-plus minutes of action to build a 29-13 advantage. Caroline Roecker gave the Belles a momentum boost by hitting a buzzer beater to make it 29-15 heading into the second stanza.

 

The second quarter was a back-and-forth duel over the ten-minute span of play. Lauren Gumma, Kate Restovich, and Elle Deardoff all connected on early shots to cut the deficit to ten at 32-22. A nine-point spurt by the Knights extended the Calvin lead to 41-22, but the Belles continued to battle. Athena Samson connected on a shot in the paint, Kate Restovich added a pull up jumper, and Annie Restovich drained another three-pointer as the teams traded buckets. A late offensive board and put-back pull-up jumper in the paint by Kate Restovich again gave the Belles a boost heading into the locker room. Calvin held a narrow 22-19 scoring advantage in the second period as both teams hit over 50 percent of their shots from the floor in the quarter.

 

An early Kate Restovich free throw and a three-pointer by Elle Deardorff saw the Belles cut the deficit to 15 twice in the third quarter. The Knights, however, continued to have the response while the shots just would not fall to yield a scoring run by Saint Mary's. Deardorff put up nine points in just the third quarter, Nicole Connolly added five, and Restovich and Athena Samson combined for five more points as the Belles had their second-hottest shooting quarter of the game (45.5 percent). Calvin, meanwhile, remained hot from the floor while hitting 54.5 percent of their shots over the same span of play.

 

The deficit proved to be too large to overcome in the final quarter despite the fact that the Belles held the Knights to their lowest scoring quarter of the game (18) in the 96-60 final on Saturday.

 

Calvin hit 50.0 percent (39-of-78) of their total shots from the floor. Saint Mary's connected on 35.2 percent (19-of-54) in the contest.

 

Kate Restovich shared game-high honors with a season-best 15 points while also pulling down a season-high seven rebounds and registering a blocked shot. Elle Deardorff added 14 points and three rebounds. Nicole Connolly chipped in nine points, and Annie Restovich tallied eight points with a pair of steals. Lauren Gumma put up seven points in the game. Athena Samson led all players with 12 rebounds and added five points with four assists.  

The Belles (1-5, 0-1 MIAA) are set to host Hope at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 6.