Belles pull away late, knock off Hornets in a 61-52 victory

Observer Sports Staff

The s aint mary’s b elles used a late 12-1 spurt to pull away from the still-winless Kalamazoo hornets, improving to 4-8 in miaa play with a 61-52 victory. s ophomore forward Julia s chutz led the way with a 20-point, eightrebound effort. s enior guard maddie r zepka chipped in 11 points, and sophomore guard Jasmyne Townsend notched

13 off the bench. it was a slow offensive start for both teams, with the b elles not getting anything through the hoop until nearly three minutes expired on the game clock. Townsend hit a jumper with 4:50 left in the quarter to give s aint mary’s a 8-7 lead. however, a drought lasting three minutes and 29 seconds ensued, and the b elles surrendered seven straight points. They trailed at the quarter break, 16-12. s aint mary’s again struggled to warm up their shooting in the second quarter. The hornets scored the first four of the period. b etween the end of the first and the beginning of the second quarter, the b elles went another 3:11 without scoring a bucket. Thankfully, strong defense kept them in the contest, as Kalamazoo opened a lead of just eight points, at 20-12. Junior forward a thena s amson led the defensive party with three blocks. s chutz and s amson combined for 13 defensive rebounds. o ff the bench, junior forward a nne g oralczyk added seven defensive rebounds and a pair of steals.

The b elles didn’t exactly catch fire offensively, but their impressive defense turned it up a notch. They held the hornets scoreless for four minutes and 56 seconds of game time. The stretch allowed s aint mary’s to claw their way back into the game, slowly executing a 10-0 run that pushed them into the lead. s chutz drilled the b elles’ first and only triple of the half to earn a 25-22 advantage, a lead that the visitors maintained the locker room, going up 27-24 at the break. a nother triple, this one just