SMC BASKETBALL: Belles Hope-less in 77-37 loss to Flying Dutch
By TREY WILLIAMS
Sports Writer
Hope was definitely not on the side of Belles basketball Wednesday night.
In fact, Hope College gave Saint Mary's its worst loss of the season, 77-37.
The Belles (5-15, 1-8 in the MIAA) were unable to pull their game together from the beginning, falling behind the Flying Dutch 33-25 at the end of the first half after a short-lived surge.
Playing against the first ranked team in both the MIAA and NCAA Division III, the Belles were at a disadvantage from the start. Not only did Hope come in with impressive statistics, with a scoring average of 80 points per game compared to Saint Mary's 57 points per game and shooting percentage of 45 percent to Saint Mary's 36 percent, but Hope had the home court advantage as well.
Adding to the Belles' misfortune was the fact that they were missing scoring leader Emily Creachbaum due to a sprained ankle.
Though the Belles are used to having a bench player ready and able to step into any empty scoring role, such was not the case Wednesday as individual scores were at season lows.
Katie Boyce was limited to only six points and was helped by Audrey Gajor who also scored six points.
Emily Pernotto, who has played a bit part this season averaging 5.4 points per game, was just under her average scoring five points.
The Flying Dutch proved to have the depth advantage with every member of the squad scoring a point. At the top of the box score was Hope standout Amanda Kerkstra with 11 points.
Defensively, the Dutch pressed hard on the struggling Belles, limiting them to only 12 points in the second half.
The pressure took its toll on the Belles offense. As a team, they connected on only 21 percent of shots inside the perimeter and 7 percent of 3-point attempts.
Contact Trey Williams at Williams.317@nd.edu
All Sports Stories for Thursday, February 6, 2003
