Belles fall to Dutch in MIAA tourney
By KATIE McVOY
Sports Writer
Saint Mary's spirit couldn't pull the Belles to a victory over top-ranked Hope College in the first round of the MIAA basketball tournament.
The Belles fell to the Flying Dutch 75-44.
Hope, 21-4, posed a significant threat to the 3-22 Saint Mary's squad. The Flying Dutch outscored their opponents by an average of 16 points and had outscored the Belles by at least 25 in the teams' two meetings this year.
The Belles kept pace with the Flying Dutch early in the game and the score was tied five minutes into the first half. After that, Hope took control and went on a 21-2 scoring run.
Saint Mary's missed nine shots in that period and the score was 27-8 with nine minutes left in the half.
After taking a timeout, the Belles came back hard. Hope only outscored Saint Mary's by two points in the final nine minutes of the first half.
Unfortunately, the damage was already done and the Belles trailed 40 - 17 at the end of the half.
Saint Mary's found some energy over half time and came back ready to play.
Kelly Jones started off the half with a jumper and the Belles kept pace with the Flying Dutch. During the second half, the Belles were only outscored by eight points — a big improvement from the first half.
Although the Belles were out-rebounded, the real determining factor of the game was shooting.
The Belles shot only 17.9 percent from the field during the first half, and 26.2 percent for the game. Hope shot 52.5 percent from the field, accounting for the difference in the score.
The Belles were led offensively by junior guard Julie Norman with 12 points and two assists and defensively by sophomore Kelly Jones who had seven rebounds.
Jones aided on offense with eight points along with freshman center Kristen Matha, who scored nine points for the team.
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, February 23, 2000
