KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Kalamazoo College women's basketball team faced off against Saint Mary's College on Saturday. The Hornets played a strong game, led by Isabelle Clark's 18 points, but were unable to hold off Saint Mary's strong second half, falling 65-48.
Through the first quarter, Saint Mary's got off to a hot start, taking a 19-4 lead into the second quarter. Saint Mary's first quarter was led by a strong showing behind the 3-point line, going 4-for-9 in the quarter while the Hornets struggled, going 0-for-9 behind the arc.
In the second, the Hornets began to show some resilience, closing the gap to just six going into the half. Through this stretch, the Hornets scored 19 points while holding Saint Mary's to just 10. The Hornets closed the quarter on a 13-2 run to trail 29-23 at halftime.
Going into the second half, the Hornets kept up their energy taking their first lead of the game off of a key 3-pointer by Juanita Ledesma giving the Hornets a 38-36 lead with 4:33 left in the third. The lead was soon taken back by Saint Mary's as they closed out the quarter on a 10-2 run, taking a 46-40 lead into the fourth quarter.
After taking the lead back in the third, Saint Mary's kept the momentum going, closing the game with a 19-8 scoring run.
Kalamazoo finished the game shooting 25 percent, including 7-for-30 from behind the 3-point line and 7-for-13 at the free throw line. Saint Mary's shot 40.7 percent overall. The teams were even at 43 total rebounds, while the Hornets were able to gather up 15 offensive rebounds for 11 second-chance points compared to five offensive rebounds by Saint Mary's.
Isabelle Clark led the team in the scoring column with 18 points on 7-for-20 shooting. She neared a double-double gathering nine rebounds as well as three assists.
Kaytlyn Tidey added nine points of her own, all coming from behind the 3-point line while Georgie Andrews put up seven points to go along with six rebounds.
The Hornets head to Angola, Ind. to face off against Trine University for their final away game of the season Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Story by Tyler Sakalys-Moore