Saints Too Much for Women's Basketball

(Lansing, MI)-- The Cleary Cougar women's basketball team welcomed the visiting Aquinas College Saints to Gannon Gymnasium Saturday afternoon for a WHAC matchup.

After a Saints basket to open the game, Amy Jackson would hit a three to give the Cougars an early 3-2 lead in the opening minutes.  Aquinas would retake the lead and build a 12-4 advantage by the halfway mark of the opening quarter.  Another Amy Jackson three would start a Cougar run, as Rylee Thomas and Samantha Hoelscher would connect on three pointers, followed by a Hoelscher layup to make the score 15-17.  Amelia Storm would hit a jumper as time expired in the first quarter to tie the game at 17-17; a 10-2 run for the Cougars to end the quarter.  Aquinas would score on their first possession of the second quarter, but Taedom Stein would convert on an and-one to give Cleary a 20-19 lead.  Aquinas would then go on a 7-0 run to retake the lead before Cleary answered with a 5-0 run of their own.  Aquinas' defense would start to make life difficult for the Cougars, and the Saints would start to pull away late in the half, finishing on a 7-2 run to give the visitors a 37-30 lead at the half.

Aquinas continued their run to start the second half, and build their first double-digit lead of the game.  Samantha Hoelscher and Mileisha Rodriguez would score to cut the deficit back to single-digits, but the Saints would regain the double-digit advantage over the next two minutes of game action.  After a Saints three pointer with 3:23 left in the third quarter, the deficit grew to 19 points, the largest lead of the game for either team.  Cleary would get some life back, after Taedom Stein hit a jumper, and then a three pointer on back to back possessions, and Makenna Jarratt would convert a three to make the deficit thirteen points.  The score would remain 57-44 with ten minutes to play.

Taedom Stein knocked down a three to open the third quarter, and after getting a defensive stop, Samantha Hoelcher scored a layup to make it an eight point game.  Aquinas would quickly score four straight points to retake the double-digit lead.  With 3:50 to play, Samantha Hoelscher knocked in a three, and Izzy Dugal made one of two free throws to cut the deficit to seven points.  That would be as close as Cleary would get down the stretch.  An Amy Jackson made three would make the score 60-68 with 1:08 to play, but the Saints would make their free throws down the stretch to hold on for the 72-62 victory.

Samantha Hoelscher led CU with 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 steals.  Taedom Stein added 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists.  Amy Jackson added 12 points and 4 steals.

Cleary drops to 7-11 overall, 6-5 in the WHAC.  The Cougars will play their first of six consecutive road games on Wednesday, January 22, when they travel to Adrian to take on the Siena Heights Saints in a WHAC battle.  The game is set to begin at 5:30 PM.