by OMAHA, Neb. – The game featured two of the top three scorers in the country for NAIA Division II women’s basketball. And yet it was a non-starter for College of Saint Mary that made perhaps the biggest impact in the game.
Pilar Aldrich (JR/Winnebago, NE) scored a career-high 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Flames past Mount Marty College 77-59 Saturday afternoon in the Great Plains Athletic Conference contest.
“Pilar played well,” CSM Coach Jesse Flanagan said. “She can flat-out shoot. She’s playing point guard and that’s not her natural position, so she’s not always that aggressive. But today she played great.”
CSM entered the game with Deaundra Young (SR/Mims, FL) sitting as the No. 2 scorer in the country with an average of 21.6 points per game, while the Lancers brought Alex Kneeland, who was ranked No. 3 with 21.4 points per game.
But when the Lancers tried to stop Young from scoring down low in the opening half, CSM took advantage of players on the perimeter. Aldirch made six 3-pointers in the contest and had 21 points by halftime. Young only had seven points at the intermission.
Kneeland, meanwhile, had 15 points by halftime for Mount Marty. The Flames went into the break with a 38-34 advantage.
But things changed in the second half.
CSM held Kneeland to just two points in the final two quarters of play, while Young managed 19. Young finished with a game-high 26 points and 17 rebounds, while Kneeland tallied 17 points.
“In the second half we made some changes and they weren’t able to double-down on Dee,” Flanagan said. “And another big factor was the defense Justice Ross (JR/Gretna, NE) played on Kneeland. She shut her down and didn’t let her get any shots off.”
Payton Everett (JR/Malcolm, NE) added 14 points and had seven rebounds for the Flames.
For the Lancers, Raquel Sutera canned 15 points and teammate Logan Wagner finished with nine.
CSM improves to 4-8 in the GPAC and 10-9 overall, while Mount Marty drops to 6-6, 12-8.
“It’s always great to get a win in the GPAC,” Flanagan said. “Mount Marty has been playing well and had won four of its last five games. So for us to get this win was huge.”
The Flames are off until Wednesday when they travel to Nebraska Wesleyan University for a GPAC game. That game was originally scheduled for 6 p.m. but tip-off will be at 7 p.m.
