Swartz breaks career blocks record, women’s basketball team routs Saint Mary’s, 81-48

OLIVET, Mich. – Senior Rachel Swartz became the all-time blocks leader, as the Olivet College women's basketball team celebrated Senior Night with an 81-48 win over Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) rival Saint Mary's (Ind.) College tonight inside the Cutler Event Center.

• Final Score: Olivet 81, Saint Mary's 48
• Location: Cutler Event Center; Olivet, Michigan
• Records: Olivet 6-17 overall, 3-11 MIAA; Saint Mary's 7-15 overall, 4-9 MIAA

• The Belles jumped out to a 7-3 lead. Olivet answered with eight straight points to take its own four-point lead, 11-7, at the 5:42 mark. The Comets maintained their four-point cushion, 15-11, at the end of the opening quarter.
• Olivet stretched its advantage to seven points, 18-11, early in the second quarter. Saint Mary's fought back with an 11-3 run to take a 22-21 lead around the midpoint of the quarter. The Comets scored 13 of the final 15 points to lead by nine points, 34-25, at halftime.
• At the 5:23 mark of the third quarter, Olivet pushed its lead to 17 points, 46-29. The Belles closed the gap to 14 points, 50-36, at the start of the fourth quarter.
• The Comets out-scored Saint Mary's, 31-12, in the fourth quarter for their 33-point margin of victory.

• Olivet had a balanced scoring attack in the win.
• Junior Lily Connelly scored a team-high 13 points. She also grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds, while dishing out four assists and making four steals.
• Swartz, as well as sophomore Courtney Balazs, freshman Megan Mauney and sophomore Clara Shoales each netted 10 points.
• Mauney pulled down 10 rebounds for her first collegiate double-double.

• Swartz blocked a shot with 3:55 left in the second quarter to pass Stefanie Lang and become Olivet's career leader. She had six blocks tonight to raise her career total to 113. The six blocks tonight are tied for the second-most in school history for a game.
• As a team, Olivet had 81 field goal attempts, which is fourth-most in school history for a game and nine blocks, which ties for first in a game. The Comets' 63 total rebounds are tied for third-most.
• Olivet's 33-point margin of victory is the largest against a MIAA school since December 14, 2013, when it defeated Alma, 99-51. It's the largest spread against Saint Mary's since January 5, 2006, when the Comets beat the Belles, 92-55.
• The 31 points in the fourth quarter are the most-ever Olivet has scored in a quarter against a MIAA school since the NCAA switched to quarters at the start of the 2015-16 season. The school record for points in a quarter is 33 against Great Lakes Christian College on November 13, 2018.

• Maddie Rzepka and Athena Samson scored 10 points apiece.
• Julia Schutz grabbed a team-best nine rebounds.
• Nikki Murphy dished out five assists.

• Olivet travels to Holland to play Hope College Saturday at 1 p.m.