SMC BASKETBALL: Belles fail to grab a win
By JOE HETTLER
Sports Writer
In the days leading up to last night's battle between Saint Mary's and Adrian, Belles head coach Suzanne Smith praised her team for their solid defense and improved rebounding in recent wins.
Unfortunately for Saint Mary's, the Belles did neither well last night in a 70-57 conference loss to Adrian.
Deidre Mangan and Anne Blair led the Belles in rebounding with only four each as Adrian grabbed a 45-30 edge in that category.
"[Rebounding] was probably one of our biggest weaknesses tonight," said Smith. "But it started more with our defense, we weren't matched up so it was hard to box out then."
Adrian was lead by the MIAA conferences leading scorer, Ra'Sheida Edwards who had 17 points and 12 rebounds. Kim Hall added 16 points as Adrian connected on 46.8 percent of its field goals.
Blair was the only player on her team to tally double figures in scoring. She had 22 points on 10-16 shooting. Freshman Emily Creachbuam, coming off of a 26-point performance was held to only nine points and attempted only 10 shots.
"There was a nice stretch in the second half where we got the ball to Anne Blair probably four or five times in a row and she scored at will," said Smith. "Then we couldn't go down and get any defensive stops."
A slow start also didn't help the Belles chances for victory.
"I think we just came out with a little bit lack of intensity," said Smith. "Obviously Adrian made some good adjustments and they were pretty fired up to play and we just didn't quite match their intensity.'
Sophomore guard Katie Miller agreed with Smith.
"We didn't play well at all," said Miller. "No one really stepped it up for our team. Anne had a really good game at the end but it just wasn't enough to get us going."
The Belles will not have much time to feel sorry for themselves because they play Kalamazoo who is in second place in the conference on Saturday in the regular season finale.
"One of the biggest things [for the next game] is to have pride," said Smith. "You know when you're playing at home it's a chance for us to send our seniors out with a great game to finish their career out at home. It's a chance for us to come out and prove ourselves and show the crowd how much we've improved this year."
All Sports Stories for Thursday, February 14, 2002
