Belles outlast Olivet for 65-61 conference victory
By JOE HETTLER
Sports Writer
Saint Mary's freshman forward Emily Creachbaum scored a career-high 26 points and sophomore Katie Miller added 11 points to lead the Belles to a 65-61 conference victory against Olivet College Saturday afternoon.
A slow start helped Olivet take an early lead and eventually control the game at halftime, 28-25.
"In the beginning we came out kind of slow," said Miller. "They were really to come at us and that made us become more intense and before the end of the half we started to do really well."
The Belles outscored Olivet 40-33 in the second half, thanks to the shooting of Creachbaum who connected on 11-15 shots during the game and made 67 percent of her free throws.
"Emily Creachbaum played really well," said Miller. "She really picked up her game."
Miller also hit some big shots, including 3-6 from behind the arc.
"In the second half we attacked them and we never backed down and we kept going," said Miller. "We hit some really big shots, too."
Olivet relied on the shooting of Louisa Grill to keep them in the game during the second half. Grill nailed eight of her nine shots and finished the game with 18 points. Stephanie Elise added 12 points for Olivet and Emily Fix had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Belles won the game despite being out-rebounded by Olivet 40-27 and shooting only 42 percent to Olivet's 46 percent.
The Belles' win, coupled with Alma College's loss to Hope on Saturday, pushed Saint Mary's another spot higher in the MIAA standings. The Belles sit at 4-8 in the conference and 8-15 overall.
"It's a very big win," said Miller. "It puts us on top of Olivet and Alma. It gives us confidence for the rest of the season."
The Belles have two regular season games left, against Adrian on Wednesday and Kalamazoo on Saturday, both of which will be at home, before opening up tournament play Feb. 19.
"Our next two games will be big and if we can pull out a win in either of those two, [it] would be huge," said Miller.
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 11, 2002
