Milwaukee,WI- Wednesday evening saw the opening of the NCAA Division 3 Basketball Season. The Mount Mary Blue Angels hosted the Regents of Rockford University. A cold start and the Regents dominating the glass put the Blue Angels in a hole they nearly climbed out of, but in the end the Regents hung on for a 66-50 win in the season opener.
The Blue Angel defense did not allow the Regents to get going early, but MMU could not grab a field goal until about 7 minutes through quarter number one. The story of the night was Mount Mary fighting back from slight deficits and simply not quite getting over the hill to tie the game or take the lead.
After the cold start, MMU trailed by 12 at half, and got as close as six in the third quarter. Each time the Blue Angels needed a stop, Rockford seemed to snare an offensive rebound which would stifle Mount Mary's momentum. The Regents had 20 offensive rebounds on the night, 13 of which occured in the first half.
MMU shot 6-22 from three point range, but their biggest deficiency on the evening was going 8-21 from the foul line.
There were plenty of bright spots for the new look Blue Angel squad, first year player Vanessa Diaz led MMU in scoring with 18 points and another debuting player, Brianna Mendez scored 12 and grabbed 12 rebounds. Returning conference newcomer of the year Deja Rivers chipped in 16 points also.
Mount Mary (0-1) will return to the Bloechl Center floor on Friday evening, November 10th, for a 6 pm match up with Eureka College. All live coverage will be available here on www.mtmaryathletics.com
