Women’s basketball team defeated at home by Alma

OLIVET, Mich. – The Olivet College women's basketball team closed out the first half of its Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) scheduled with a 73-62 setback to Alma College today at the Cutler Event Center.

• Final Score: Alma 73, Olivet 62
• Location: Cutler Event Center; Olivet, Michigan
• Records: Olivet 4-13 overall, 1-7 MIAA; Alma 5-11 overall, 3-4 MIAA

• The Scots built a 13-point lead in the first quarter. A basket by sophomore Courtney Balazs right before the buzzer made the score 24-13 at the end of the quarter.
• The Comets scored the first six points of the second quarter to make the score 24-19. Alma answered with an 8-1 run to go back double digits. Olivet fought back and closed the gap to a single point, 32-31, with 1:52 left until halftime. The Scots scored five straight points before a three-pointer by sophomore Clara Shoales cut the Comets' deficit in half, 37-34, at the intermission.
• Olivet kept the game close in the first five minutes of the third quarter. Alma did not gain a lead of more than possession until it went up five points, 43-38, at the 4:53 mark. The Scots stretched their lead to as many as 11 points, 54-43, to start the fourth quarter.
• Ala opened the final quarter on an 11-4 spurt to gain their largest lead of the game, 65-47. The Comets did not give up, as they ended the quarter even in points for the 11-point margin of defeat.
• For the game, both teams made 23 baskets. The difference was 14 for the Scots were from behind the three-point arc compared to five for Olivet. Alma was also near perfect from the free throw line (13-of-14), while the Comets were 11-of-19.

• Balazs led the way with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
• Senior Rachel Swartz joined her in double figures with 14 points.
• Junior Lily Connelly scored six points, grabbed a game-best nine rebounds, dished out five assists and made three steals.
• Shoales had eight points, six rebounds, two assists and three steals.

• Taylor Sas topped all players with 27 points, with six three-pointers.
• Morgan Hanchett came off the bench to score 16 points.
• Brooke LeRoux tallied 14 points.
• Sas pulled down a team-best eight rebounds.

• The Comets' next countable game is in one week, January 21, when they travel to play Kalamazoo College. Tip-off from the Anderson Athletic Center is 1 p.m.