Springfield, Ill. – Today at the Lincoln Land Community College Gymnasium, the Mount Mary University basketball team lost to host Robert Morris University Springfield by a score of 47-45. The close contest came down to the final shot, with neither team ever leading in the game by more than six points and seven total lead changes, the Eagles are now 2-10 on the season while the Blue Angels move to 2-7.
The teams started three hours later then initially scheduled, but both teams came out ready. The Blue Angels quickly jumped ahead by four, but the Eagles quickly came back. Attacking until the final buzzer in the first quarter, the Eagles slipped in front of the Blue Angels 12-9 in the score column.
Both teams played evenly for the remainder of the half. MMU shot 7-of-25 from the field in the half while hitting 5-of-11 from the free throw line. The opposition was near the same effectiveness from both the field and the free throw line hitting 8-of-33 and 5-of-10 respectively.
To open the second half, the Blue Angels mustered a 15-10 third quarter which included their most effective 9-1 run.
The Blue Angels increased their field goal percentage and shot 38.1 from the field in the second half along with hitting 3-of-7 from 3-point territory. However, the relentlessness of the Eagles chipped away the Blue Angel lead in the fourth quarter.
RMU hit 9-of-29 from the field in the second half along with 6-of-10 from the free throw line. The Eagles 15-11 run in the fourth quarter was just enough to give them a 47-45 lead with 10.9 seconds remaining. With time winding down, senior Becky Onan (Grafton, Wis.) outran the opposition and got off a well-contested last-second shot, but the Eagles held on to get their second win of the season.
Although limited to 20 minutes of play, Erica Williams (Fr./Bloomington, Ill.) led the Blue Angels with 10 points. Teammate Brooke Uebersetzig (So./Greenwood, Ind.) helped her team out with eight points and a team leading seven rebounds.
Kirsten George (Fr./Fairborn, Ohio) had her biggest offensive night of the season hitting 3-of-5 from the field and 2-of-3 from the free throw line for eight points.
"This one hurts a bit more because I felt we had a great week of preparation," said Mount Mary Head Basketball Coach Marc Heidorf. "Our issues right now skew towards the mental approach as opposed to physical limitations. That makes the 'fix' a little tougher. I'm confident we can learn and build from this though."
After today's game, the Blue Angels will get ready for their next game scheduled for Fri. Jan. 12 against Lincoln Christian University. Live video and stats for the 5:30 pm start against LCU will be available at mtmaryathletics.com.
