MILWAUKEE – Tonight at the Bloechl Center, the Mount Mary University women's basketball team gave their seniors Ariel Oviedo (Shawano, Wis.) and Jess Runge (Freedom, Wis.) a win in their final home game. The Blue Angels (7-12) defeated visiting Andrews University (4-16) by a final score of 69-46.
The Blue Angels jumped out to a quick lead getting on an immediate 9-2 run. MMU continued to pressure defensively as they forced the Cardinals to commit 10 team turnovers in the quarter. Ariel Oviedo was responsible for four official steals in the quarter as fellow senior Jess Runge led the Blue Angels in scoring with seven points as MMU closed out the first frame with a 16-7 lead.
In the second quarter, the Cardinals tried to keep pace opening up the first five minutes of the frame on an 8-7 run. The contest continued to go back and forth all the while Jess Runge drove her team's offense forward as she finished the half with 20 of the Blue Angels 31 points in the half, and an 11-point lead.
MMU fought off the storm again in the third quarter. For ten more minutes, Jess Runge led the Blue Angel charge with 10 points. Her 4-of-5 from the field led the Blue Angels as the team shot 7-of-12 from the floor in the frame. The Cardinals added 15 points of their own in the quarter and shot 46.2 percent from the field.
MMU salted away the 50-38 lead in the fourth as forward Becky Onan (Jr./Grafton, Wis.) scored 10 of the Blue Angels 19 points. The Cardinals went 4-of-13 from the field in the final frame and had seven team turnovers on their way to eight points.
In Runge and Oviedo's Bloechl Center swan song, the two capture the win and now have MMU on pace to tie the Blue Angels single season wins record of eight. Runge also ended with a career night as she shot 12-of-19 from the field, 5-of-8 from 3-point territory, 4-of-4 from the free throw line on her way to 33 points. A fine offensive night coupled with her five steals, now has Runge at an even 100 career steals for the Blue Angels.
Onan Added 20 points of her own along with 12 rebounds, five assists and four steals. Along with Onan teammate Rae Grubbs (Fr./Covington, Ind.) went 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Grubbs finished with 11 points on the night.
Following tonight's game, the Blue Angels will look to close out the 2016-17 season at Illinois Tech (1-18). MMU will travel to Chicago on Tues. Feb, 21 for the 6:00 pm start time. Live video and statistics of the Blue Angels final game will be made available at mtmaryathletics.com.
