SAINT BONIFACIUS, Minn.– The Mount Mary University basketball team lost a close 63-62 contest against Crown College. The Storm scored a bucket with 10 seconds left to go in the game to grab the victory and move to 4-7 on the season while pushing the Blue Angels to 4-8.
Rae Grubbs (Sr./Covington, Ind.) led the offense tonight against the Storm. Grubbs went 5-of-11 from outside the three-point line to score a team high 22 points. Grubbs also finished the contest with a pair of steals on the defensive end.
Teammate Melissa Golo (So./Boise, Idaho) scored 11 points and hit the only other three-pointer by a Blue Angels in Saturday's contest. Golo finished 4-of-9 from the field and a perfect 2-of-2 from the free throw line.
Nyasia Hardy (Fr./Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Erica Williams (Jr./Bloomington, Ill.) both scored 10 points to bolster the starting offense. Williams led the team with nine rebounds and four assists as well.
The seesaw-contest saw the Storm take the early lead in the first quarter. Along with hitting 38.5 percent from the field in the first quarter, the Blue Angels forced their opponents into six team turnovers. The Storm were able to hit from the field and their 8-of-13 performance in the frame gave them a 19-14 lead.
MMU stormed right back in the second. After the Storm hit their first basket of the second quarter at 9:35, the Blue Angels held Crown off the scoreboard for the next three minutes of action. The two teams traded the lead five more times in the quarter. MMU was able to hit 50 percent from both the field and outside the three-point arc on their way to a 36-31 lead at halftime.
The Blue Angels maintained the lead throughout the entire third quarter. Despite the opposition outscoring MMU 18-14, the Blue Angels kept the lead by forcing Crown into five third-quarter turnovers. After hitting 2-of-4 from the field in the third, the Blue Angels entered the final frame ahead by one point.
MMU was either ahead of Crown or tied for the first eight minutes of action in the fourth. At the 2-minute mark, the Storm took their first lead since early in the second quarter. Erica Williams took that lead right back with a layup with just under two minutes to play in the contest.
The Storm tied the game at 61-61 when Katie Archer hit 1-of-2 from the free throw line with 41 seconds left to go. The next possession Williams gave MMU a one-point lead after she hit 1-of-2 from the free throw line herself.
With ten seconds left to go, the Storm sliced through the lane for the go-ahead basket making the score 63-62. The Blue Angels had one last possession, but could not hit the buzzer-beater for the comeback.
The Blue Angels will return to action Mon. Jan. 6 against North Central University at 3:00 PM. The contest in Minneapolis, Minn. will have live streaming available at MtMaryAthletics.com.
