By Staff
DUBUQUE, IA - Saint Mary's shot a season best 48 percent (26-for-54) from the field in knocking Blackburn 72-63 Thursday morning in the consolation bracket of the Clarke College Holiday Tournament.
The Belles raised their record to 4-6 while Blackburn dropped to 1-8.
Midway through the opening half with the Beavers leading 16-15 the Belles took control by scoring 25 of the half's final 35 points in taking a 40-26 edge at intermission.
In the second frame Blackburn chipped away at the Belles advantage and got as close as 55-51 with 9:51 left in the contest. However, Saint Mary's responded with a 13-2 scoring spurt over the next 3:48 to seal the win.
Allison Kessler scored a team best 17-points to pace the Belles. Shelly Bender recorded 14 points on the strength of a 6-for-7 shooting effort while Erin Newsom (11) and Nicole Tucker (10) rounded on the double figures scorers for Saint Mary's.
Junior co-captain Bridget Lipke chipped in eight assists while scoring seven points and grabbing seven rebounds in the win.
Saint Mary's will play the winner of the Augustana/Illinois Institute of Technology winner on Friday afternoon in the fifth-place game of the tournament.
SAINT MARY'S 72
Alison Kessler 5-11 6-9 17; Shelly Bender 6-7 2-3 14; Erin Newsom 5-10 0-011; Nicole Tucker 3-5 1-2 10; Bridget Boyce 2-9 2-4 7; Bridget Lipke 2-6 3-4 7; Nicole Beier 3-5 0-0 6; Stefanie Broderick 0-0 0-0 0; Bernadette Broderick 0-1 0-0 0; Katie Rashid 0-0 0-0 0; Calli Davison 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-54 14-22 72.
BLACKBURN 63
Polston, Meghan 7-21 4-5 18; Woelfel, Michelle 3-7 9-9 15; Roberts, Randi 4-9 0-1 11; Koerkenmeier, Jackie 3-11 4-4 10; Collins, Cherie 1-3 1-1 3; Cnota, Krystina 0-0 2-2 2; Llamas, Rocio 1-1 0-0 2; Koerkenmeier, Jessie 0-0 2-2 2; Heddins, Micah 0-0 0-0 0; Jaso, Stefany 0-0 0-0 0; Jorn, Sarah 0-1 0-1 0; Cryder, Jeanna 0-5 0-0 0. Totals 19-58 22-25 63.