by OMAHA, Neb. – The College of Saint Mary basketball team suffered a tough loss Friday night to Peru State College in a nonconference contest.
CSM Coach Jesse Flanagan said his squad’s great start might have also been its downfall against a Peru State squad that has just six players.
“I think we started out so hot making a bunch of 3-pointers that we started to fall in love with the 3,” Flanagan said. “We can’t live and die by the 3-pointer. We need to be able to drive and penetrate.”
The Flames tossed up 36 balls from downtown and converted on 12 of them – nine of which came in the first half. CSM shot 33 percent from 3-point range and 39 percent for its total field goal percentage. Peru State shot 38 percent.
“Our game plan was to get out and run because of their lack of depth,” Flanagan said. “When we did that we caused problems for them. Peru was trying to slow us down and when they did – that’s when we got in trouble.”
The Flames led 20-16 after the opening quarter and the game was tied 38-38 at the intermission. CSM outscored Peru 21-12 in the third quarter to lead 59-50 with just one quarter remaining.
But the Bobcats weren’t about to quit.
“I knew Peru wouldn’t go away,” Flanagan said. “They executed their game plan to slow things down and we had trouble with our decision making.
“We were up nine to start the quarter and had three chances to go up even more because we got stops, but we had turnovers that kept Peru in the game.”
The Bobcats had four players in double digits – led by 19 points from Abigail Niebrugge.
Tyler Sumpter (SR/Nixon, Nev.) led all scorers with 24 points for the Flames. Teammate Miranda Acuna (SR/San Antonio, Texas) added 20 points, seven assists and two blocks. Lacey Knudsen (SR/Fairplay, Colo.) and Alyssa Laudato (SO/Palm Bay, Fla.) both tossed in eight points, while Laudato also had five assists. Knudsen and Corryne Millett (JR/Minden, Nev.) led CSM with seven rebounds each.
“You could see flashes of what we can do,” Flanagan said. “You can see the ability we have. We just have to get it all together and we need to put it all together for a full 40 minutes of basketball.”
CSM falls to 0-4 on the season and returns to action Tuesday at Kansas Wesleyan University.
