Belles Hold Off Late Surging Hornets 59-46

The Belles of St. Mary's College held off the Kalamazoo College surge by a final score of 59-46 on Wednesday evening at the Anderson Athletic Center. Kalamazoo jumped out to an 8-2 lead, only to become a distant memory as the Belles capitalized with an 18-0 run over a nine minute span before Senior Nyemade Cooper broke the scoring drought with a free throw. Kalamazoo entered the break with a 31-17 deficit. A big factor in the deficit was the cold shooting from the outside in the first half. Kalamazoo shot 0-9 from the arc and only shot six from the charity stripe.

In the second half, the Hornets cut the Belles lead to 8, but two turnovers compounded by two made baskets put the 6-0 Kalamazoo run to a stop. The lead extended to as many as 21, but the Hornets late 10-1 run with just under two minutes remaining reduced the margin of victory.

Nyemade Cooper led the Hornets with 12 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 blocks. Junior Courtney Kaplan followed with 9 points and Sophomore Kelsey Johnson added 8 points. The Hornets won the turnover battle for the first time this season (-2) and distributed 13 assists on 19 made field goals (best assist : fg made ratio this season). The Hornets were outrebounded 43-32 and shot 16 less free throws (26-10). The Hornet bench was outscored 17-7 and Kalamazoo shot a season low 10.5% from three-point range (2/19).


Kalamazoo welcomes nationally ranked Hope College to Anderson Athletic Center Saturday afternoon at 3:00. This will be the 4th nationally ranked team Kalamazoo has played in 10 games this season, the most among all teams in the MIAA conference (Transylvania, Calvin, Davenport, Hope).