NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Saint Mary's basketball team came up on the short end of a 106-57 final against neighboring Holy Cross College on Tuesday evening.

 

The teams traded buckets back-and-forth over the opening five-plus minutes of action. Athena Samson, Nikki Murphy, and Maddie Rzepka combined to put the first ten points on the scoreboard for Saint Mary's, and Nicole Connolly connected on a jump shot as the Belles kept close at 13-12 with 4:19 remaining in the opening quarter. Anne Goralczyk had a defensive board at one end before sinking a jump shot of her own to make it a 17-14 game with under three minutes to go in the first stanza. The Saints, however, closed out the period with a 10-0 run over the final 2:18 for a 27-14 lead at the first break.

Buckets by Rzepka, Samson, and Murphy opened the second quarter, and a three-pointer by Elle Deardorff cut the deficit to six points at 31-25 with 6:25 on the clock. After back-to-back buckets by Holy Cross, Connolly hit another jumper to make it an eight-point game at 35-27. The Saints countered with four points, but Anne Goralczyk pulled down an offensive board and hit the put-back effort to continue to keep the Belles within striking distance at 39-29. Six-consecutive points by Holy Cross pushed the Saints' lead to 16 before a late bucket by Goralczyk pushed the score to 45-31 going into the halftime break.

 

Athena Samson hit a pair of shots for the Belles in the opening minutes of the third quarter, but the Saints used an early 16-4 spurt through 3:36 of the period to build a 61-35 lead. Deardorff drained another three-pointer, and Goralczyk converted a pair of free throws to try to spur a run for the Belles. Holy Cross, however, would be the side to go on a run as an 18-0 run but the Saints ahead 81-42. Maddie Rzepka broke up the drought with four points before Julia Schutz added a free throw, but Holy Cross took an 82-45 lead going into the final period. Despite their best efforts, the Belles were unable to make a run in the fourth period as the Saints claimed the 106-57 decision.

 

The Saints shot 53.8 percent (42-of-78) from the floor with 60 points coming in the paint. The Belles were limited to a 38.3 percent (23-of-60) shooting effort from the floor while registering 38 points in the paint. Holy Cross also capitalized on the turnover difference (28-11) to outscore Saint Mary's 27-5 in points off of giveaways in the contest. 

 

Athena Samson led the Belles with 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. She added a game-best three blocked shots on the defensive end. Maddie Rzepka chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds, and Anne Goralczyk posted eight points and eight rebounds with a blocked shot. Elle Deardorff added seven points, Nikki Murphy tallied six, and Julia Schutz and Nicole Connolly each had five points. Lauren Gumma notched three points, and Alyssa Matuza recorded the first point of her collegiate career with a free throw. 

 

The Belles (4-5) return to conference competition on Thursday when they travel to Calvin for a 7:00 p.m. contest against the Knights.