Belles win MIAA play-off game
By MOLLY McVOY
Assistant Sports Editor
The Saint Mary's basketball team made history Monday night by winning the first game that Belles' basketball has ever won in the MIAA playoffs with a 68-62 victory over Olivet College.
"It's really exciting," said junior guard Julie Norman. "It's kind of a nice turn around to a really long season. Now is the time we needed to peak, and we are."
This win marks only the fourth win of the Belles' season, making the victory that much sweeter.
They dominated throughout the game, thanks largely to the play of freshman Kristen Matha. Matha recorded a game-high 25 points and carried both the scoring and the emotion of the team as she played.
"I can't tell you how proud of her I am," Norman said. "She showed so much maturity as a freshman out there."
The game was very physical, with both teams combining for 37 fouls by the sound of the buzzer. This type of game only inspires the Belles to step up their play, Matha said.
"[A rough game] always fires up our team," she said. "Its just natural to get fired up and want to score it in their face."
Saint Mary's capitalized on the foul shots it had, shooting 85 percent from the foul line for 17 points. Matha alone had 11 points from the line.
The Belles' defense took advantage of every opportunity the Comets' offense allowed, scoring 22 points off of turnovers to the Comets' nine. Saint Mary's also had 12 fast break points in the game, while Olivet did not register one.
The Belles led by eight at the half and never relinquished the lead. They led by as many as 12 during the game.
Olivet mounted a comeback near the end of the game, bringing it within five points many times, but Saint Mary's kept control and secured the win.
Although Matha led the team in rebounding, total points and steals, she does not want to be called the star of the game.
"It was a total team effort," she said. "Everyone was just knocking down shots when they needed to."
Matha had support in scoring from Norman with 11 points and sophomore Jaime Stouffer who recorded 10 points in the win.
The eighth-ranked Belles will face the Comets of Hope College tonight in the next round of the playoffs. Hope is ranked first in the MIAA heading into today's game. Hope has won both previous meetings with Saint Mary's by a margin of more than 25 points.
However, even with the Flying Dutch's daunting 14-2 league record, the Belles feel they have a chance.
"I think the key is believing we can do it," Norman said. "Big upsets take place every night. With this momentum behind us, anything can happen. We just need to keep our heads in the game and play hard the entire game."
A victory against Hope will not depend on another superstar performance by Matha. The entire team will need to step up and compete on Hope's level.
"That's the great thing about our team," Norman said. "We don't have one superstar, but someone always steps up."
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, February 22, 2000
