NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Saint Mary's basketball team played hard from start to finish but fell short in a 109-62 final against No. 6 (WBCA/d3hoops.com) ranked Hope on Saturday afternoon.

 

Both teams came out of the gates running with the two sides combining for 24 points through the first 3:48 of play. Hope scored on their opening possession only to see Elle Deardorff drain a three-pointer for a 3-2 Belles lead. The Flying Dutch countered with a three before Nikki Murphy cleaned up the offensive glass and hit the putback layup to knot the game at 5-5. Hope used a three-point play to gain the 8-5 lead, but an Athena Samson free throw followed by a Julia Schutz three-pointer pushed Saint Mary's ahead 9-8. The back-and-forth scoring continued as the Dutch used a layup to gain a 10-9 edge. Maddie Rzepka had the answer less than a minute later with a leaner from outside the lane to put the Belles on top 11-10. Hope hit a three-pointer and added a layup for a 15-11 lead before Jasmyne Townsend kept Saint Mary's within striking distance with a jumper with 5:25 on the clock to pull the Belles within 15-13. After Hope expanded their lead to six points, Anne Goralczyk converted both ends of a trip to the charity stripe while Rzepka added another tough shot in the paint to again cut the deficit to two at 19-17 with under four minutes to play in the quarter. Goralczyk had the answer again on the next possession with a layup off of a feed from Nikki Murphy to make it a 21-19 game. The Flying Dutch used a layup and an and-one opportunity on the fastbreak to gain a 26-19 lead with 2:27 remaining. Murphy hit a pair of free throws to make it a five-point affair at 26-21 with under two minutes to go, but back-to-back buckets by Hope pushed the lead to 30-21. Julia Schutz powered her way to a layup late in the quarter for a 30-23 score. The Flying Dutch, however, used a late bucket to carry a 32-23 lead into the first-quarter break.

 

The second quarter was the stretch that changed the outcome of the game. Hope put the first nine points on the scoreboard to double their lead 2:26 into the period. Nicole Connolly hit a mid-range jumper to get the Belles in the scoring column only to see a seven-point spurt by the Dutch push the lead to 23 at 48-25. Julia Schutz fought her way to a second-chance layup as the score moved to 48-27 in favor of Hope, but the Flying Dutch continued to respond to Saint Mary's buckets with small scoring runs while not allowing a scoring run of even consecutive baskets to the Belles throughout the entire quarter. Mary Kate Gareau hit two free throws, Connolly added another bucket, and Goralczyk chipped in a free throw of her own. Hope, however, hit 63.6 percent of their total shots and 85.7 percent of their three pointers in the quarter while Saint Mary's connected on 18.8 percent of their shots during the period as the Flying Dutch out-scored the Belles 38-9 in the stanza.

 

The entire second half of play was much more back-and-forth. Julia Schutz and Maddie Rzepka each had five points in the third quarter, Anne Goralczyk added four points in the period, and Nyah Porter and Mary Kate Gareau each added a point as the scoring margin was just five points (21-16) in favor of Hope in the third. The scoring efforts were even more balanced in the final stanza with Schutz tacking on four more points; Elle Deardorff sinking a three; Porter, Nicole Connolly, and Maddie Rzepka each notching two points; and Gareau adding a free throw. The Belles had their most efficient shooting period of the game in the fourth quarter (55.6 percent) as the scoring difference was four points (18-14) for the Dutch in the 109-62 final.

 

Julia Schutz led all players in the game with 16 points and had a team-best eight rebounds. Maddie Rzepka added 11 points. Anne Goralczyk had nine points, three rebounds, and a pair of steals. Elle Deardorff and Nicole Connolly each posted six points, and Nikki Murphy and Mary Kate Gareau had four points apiece. Deardorff and Murphy each collected three assists. Nyah Porter posted three points, Jasmyne Townsend had two, and Athena Samson added a point and four rebounds.

 

The Belles (7-15, 4-9 MIAA) travel to Olivet on Wednesday, February 8 for a 6:00 p.m. conference game against the Comets.