GALLATIN, Tenn. — It marked the first-ever meeting when the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team took the court against Penn State Behrend during the opening day of the Music City Classic Thursday morning.
Unfortunately, a 23-point fourth quarter by the Lions left the Cardinals singing the blues.
Penn State Behrend outscored the Cardinals 23-17 over the game's final 10 minutes, breaking a 48-48 deadlock and dealing Saint Mary's a 71-65 setback.
The Cardinals trailed just once in the opening quarter, and led by as many as four twice — 13-9 on a 3-pointer by
Ashley Streveler (Colby, Wis.) and 15-11 on a jumper by
Brooklyn Paulson (Holmen, Wis.) — before settling for a two-point, 15-13 lead heading into the second stanza.
The second quarter was a virtual mirror image of the first, with both teams scoring 15 points and Saint Mary's clinging to a two-point cushion at the break.
Penn State Behrend would wrestle the lead away from the Cardinals just once in the second frame — scoring the first four points of the quarter for a 17-15 lead — only to have Saint Mary's immediately regain the upper hand. Saint Mary's built a six-point advantage on a jumper by
Graysin Hartjes (Kaukauna, Wis.) with 1:35 to play in the quarter, but the Lions would respond with four unanswered points to whittle the lead back down to two, 30-28, at the half.
The Cardinals maintained the upper hand through the majority of the third quarter, leading by six on two separate occasions — 38-32 and 40-34 — but the Lions would not go away, clocing the quarter on a 14-8 tear to pull even, 48-48, with 10 minutes to play.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, those final 10 minutes belonged to the Lions.
Morgan Altavilla buried a quarter-opening 3-pointer to give Penn State Behrend a 51-48 lead — and the Lions would never relinquish the advantage. Trailing by six, 60-54 midway through the quarter, Saint Mary's cut the deficit to one, 60-59, only to have the Lions score five unanswered points to push that advantage back to six, 65-59. SMU cut the PSB lead to four twice over the game's final 1:10, but it was not enough, as Altavilla sealed the win with back-t
o-back free throws with :19 seconds remaining.
Paulson led the way for the Cardinals, scoring 23 points on 8 of 18 shooting — including a 5-for-9 effort from behind the 3-point line — and a 2-for-2 showing from the free throw line. Cruze also finished in double figures for SMU, scoring 10 points, while
Grace Schaffer (Farmington, Minn.) added nine points and Hartjes chipped in eight.
As a team, Saint Mary's shot 43.6 percent from the field (24-for-55) with six 3-pointers and an 11 of 15 performance from the line. PSB, meanwhile, finished 25-for-63 (39.7 %) with five 3-pointers and knocked down 16 of 24 free throw attempts.
The Cardinals (2-6 overall) are right back in action on Friday, when they conclude their two-game Music City Classic stay with a 2:30 p.m. nonconference matchup against Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
