by CRETE, Neb. – The College of Saint Mary basketball team started out strong Wednesday evening and entered halftime with a lead over Doane University. But the Tigers were stronger in the second half and went on to win the Great Plains Athletic Conference contest 65-56.
“We started out great,” CSM Coach Jesse Flanagan said. “We really moved and shared the basketball and shots came easy for us when that was happening.”
The Flames held a 20-11 advantage after the opening quarter and were ahead 31-28 at the intermission. But in the third quarter Doane tied the game at 33-33 at the 6:12 mark. The game was back-and-forth for a few minutes until a layup by Morgan Hill at 1:31 gave the Tigers a lead they never relinquished.
Doane outscored CSM 14-7 in the third frame and 23-18 in the fourth quarter.
“During the second and third quarter we became stagnant and stopped moving,” Flanagan said. “We were not as aggressive and it became a real struggle to score. When you don’t play a complete 40 minutes, you don’t win ball games.”
Pilar Aldrich (Winnebago Tribe) led the Flames with 17 points, while teammate Paige Muhammad (SR/Omaha, Neb.) and Justice Ross (SR/Gretna, Neb.) both added 10 points. Shelby Allberry (SR/North Platte, Neb.) scored eight points and grabbed 10 rebounds, before leaving the game in the fourth quarter with an injury. Also for CSM, Ashley Nelson (SO/LaVista, Neb.) tallied five steals and four assists.
It was a tough loss for the Flames, who also played a good game against Doane earlier in the season before falling 83-76 in overtime.
With the loss, CSM falls to 1-15 in the GPAC and 5-19 overall, while Doane improves to 6-9, 12-13. The Flames play again on Saturday when Briar Cliff University comes to town for a 2 p.m. contest.
