KALAMAZOO, MI - The Kalamazoo College women's basketball team grinded out a tough 58-48 win over Saint Mary's (Ind.) on Wednesday night. The Hornets are now 9-4 overall and 3-1 in MIAA play, good enough for third place in the conference behind Calvin and Hope. Kalamazoo has won five games in a row and seven of its previous eight. They are on absolute fire this winter.
The game was close from the beginning until the final 20 seconds. In the first half the Hornets only shot 28 percent, while allowing the Belles to shoot 41. The teams also combined for 24 first half turnovers. Emily Lindsay was the only Hornet to have a very productive first half with eight points and five rebounds. The Hornets went into the break trailing 26-25 but it could have been by much more.
Who knows what adjustments the Hornets made in the second half, but all of the sudden they began shooting the lights out. The team almost doubled its shooting percentage in the second half by shooting 54.5 percent. Emily Lindsay was huge with 15 points and a team high nine rebounds. Perri Nicholson had her hands full with Saint Mary's front court but managed to put up 10 points, six rebounds, and steal the ball from the two most talented Belle players four times. Kelsey Adamski absolutely stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, six assists, five rebounds, and four steals. It seemed like there were five of her on the court at some points.
However maybe the biggest story of the night was Hannah Maness, and the senior proving she possesses the clutch gene. She had a season high 15 points and drew some really tough and smart charges, but her real heroics came in the game's final forty seconds. With Kalamazoo only up by three and forty seconds to go Maness hit her second three pointer of the night to put up the Hornets 64-58 with 39 seconds to go. She then sunk her sixth and seventh of eight free throws to seal the victory for the Hornets with 16 seconds left to play.
Kalamazoo's starting five has been consistently fantastic from top to bottom this year. On nights when some players aren't as strong, others step in, and on some nights like tonight, they all show up in a big way. The team has also proven themselves very deep with consistent bench production from players like Querubin Dubois, Danielle Simon, Claire Slaughter and Emily Kozal.
The Hornets will be looking for their tenth win and sixth in a row Saturday, Jan. 10 against a very tough Hope team on the road.