NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Saint Mary's basketball team fell to neighboring Holy Cross College in a 70-55 final on Tuesday evening.

 

The Belles took a 6-0 lead through the opening three-plus minutes of action with good buckets by Maddie Rzepka and Anne Goralczyk before Rzepka connected on a pair of free throws. The Saints responded with an 11-0 run, but Claire Bartz sunk a jumper to make it an 11-8 game. Holy Cross used another spurt to extend their lead to 15-8. Elle Deardorff gave the Belles some momentum going into the second quarter with a three-pointer in the final seconds of the stanza to make it 15-11.

 

With the Saints leading by eight points at 25-17, Rzepka and Bartz battled their way to good layups to halve the deficit to four points. A short while later, Lauren Gumma hit a floater in the lane and converted the and-one opportunity to make it a 29-26 game with just over two minutes remaining. Holy Cross countered by extending their lead back to nine points late in the quarter, but Gumma found a layup on the Belles' last possession of the period to send the game to halftime with Saint Mary's trailing 38-31.

 

Holy Cross scored the first five points of the third quarter to gain a 43-31 edge, but the Belles battled their way right back into the thick of things. Nikki Murphy hit a layup to kick-start a 13-0 run for the Belles over the next four-plus minutes of play. Rzepka had a jumper in the paint, Morgan Flynn rattled in a three-pointer, and the pair each added two-point buckets before a second-chance bucket by Julia Schutz gave Saint Mary's a 44-43 lead with more than three minutes to play in the quarter. Holy Cross broke their scoreless stretch with a bucket and two free throws, but Lauren Gumma continued to find success on offense as the freshman drained a three-pointer at the top of the key to tie the game 47-47 going into the fourth quarter.

 

After the Saints hit a pair of buckets early in the final period, Christina Shadid dialed one in from long distance to put the Belles within a point at 51-50. Neither team could find a bucket over the next two minutes of play until a fastbreak bucket by Holy Cross made it 53-50. Bella Dugas drew a shooting foul and made a free throw to pull Saint Mary's within 53-51. The Saints, however, gained the momentum in the contest for good with a 17-2 run over the next six minutes of play as Holy Cross went on to take the 70-55 decision.

 

The Belles hit 42.3 percent (22-of-52) of their shots in the game while limiting the Saints to a 30.2 percent (26-of-86) effort from the floor on the night. Holy Cross, however, capitalized on 30 turnovers by the Belles to out-score Saint Mary's 35-4 in points off of turnovers.

 

Maddie Rzepka led the Belles with 12 points. Lauren Gumma posted a season-high 11 points on the night. Claire Bartz chipped in six points. Morgan Flynn scored five, and Anne Goralczyk, Nikki Murphy, and Julia Schutz each posted four points. Schutz had a team-best eight rebounds and blocked three shots.

 

The Belles (2-7) are back home on Thursday when they host Calvin for a conference contest starting at 7:00 p.m.