Another close loss

The story of the past few games was relived on our home court last night as we dropped a close game, 75-69 to Mt. Mary College. While the middle part of the game was different than the last couple, the plot and ending was eerily similar: difficulty defending the post with our undersized team and effort until the final buzzer.

This time, instead of leading much I the contest only to surrender the lead late, we trailed by two at half, then watched as they pushed out to a 17 point lead with four minutes remaining, and fought back to within three before dropping the game.

We came into the game short-handed for sure, with starter and third leading scorer Brooke sidelined with an ankle injury. But we were not making excuses and were determined to play hard and focused.

We led most of the first half thanks to good shooting and decision making by Allie. She scored 12 before intermission and got everyone involved. However three first-half fouls left us in a precarious position. We started the second half slowly and watched them go to work inside. We were always a step slow adjusting inside, and their post made some difficult shots. Add to that some bad turnovers that led to easy baskets for them, and we were going the wrong direction.

Kate took over the game offensively in the second half. She scored 25 of her game high 35 against a variety of defenses. She did this while battling congestion and a bad back.

We made a furious comeback the last four minutes, even with Allie out of the game after fouling out, forcing turnovers and hitting clutch shots, but the lead was too big to overcome.

Kate was 7/15 from 3pt, and had 3 rebounds and 3 steals. Allie finished with 13 points, 4 reb, 6 assists and 3 steals. Becca scored 10, collected 6 rebounds, and made 3 steals. While Valerie turned in her best stat line o the season: 8 points (4/5), 7 reb, 3 assists, 5 steals. She had several other deflections and hustle plays that resulted in extra shots and possessions for us as well.

We're en route to Manitowoc, WI where we play Silver Lake College. They beat us 53-52 at our place in November, and we're excited to et back on the court.

Follow @NI_Athletics on twitter today for in-game scores and information. Thanks for reading.