Flames can’t recover from cold start

YANKTON, S.D. – An ice-cold start spelled trouble for the College of Saint Mary women on Wednesday night.

The Flames made just 4 of 31 (12.9%) from the field to trail Mount Marty 35-10 at the intermission of their Great Plains Athletic Conference basketball game. CSM rallied with 40 second-half points, but it wasn't nearly enough as the Lancers posted the 81-50 victory at Cimpl Arena.

"We struggled to hit shots until the fourth quarter,'' CSM Coach Natalie Miller said. "They definitely gave us the 3-point line and we weren't hitting them. Defensively, we did a good job taking away drives the first half, but they shot it well.''

Mount Marty squared its overall record at 8-8 while improving to 2-8 in GPAC play. CSM dropped to 1-15 and 0-10.

Twelve players found the scoring column for Mount Marty, led by Kaela Martinez's 19. She made 4 of 6 from 3-point range.

The bright spots for the Flames came in the second half, when Ella Klusman scored all of her team-high 14 points. She made 4 of 9 from 3-point range after the break. Mia Stewart scored all of her 12 points in the second half, including 2 of 5 from beyond the arc. Maura Tichota led the team with six rebounds.

"Mia had a great game and hit shots and was a key player for us,'' Miller said.

CSM will try and regroup for its next game on Saturday in Orange City against GPAC foe Northwestern, which is set for a 2 p.m. start.