OMAHA, Neb. – Fifth-ranked Briar Cliff University turned in a complete first-half performance Saturday at the Lied Fitness Center, using full-court pressure to race to a 54-14 halftime lead en route to an 87-45 win over College of Saint Mary in Great Plains Athletic Conference basketball play.

"They're No. 5 in the country for a reason,'' CSM Coach Natalie Miller said. "The first half we really got stumped by their press. We didn't do a good job of holding them off and being strong with the ball.''

CSM committed 18 of its 24 turnovers before the intermission, falling to 1-22 overall and 0-16 in GPAC play. The Chargers improved to 19-3 overall and 13-3 in the GPAC.

The Flames trailed 6-5 after Haley Debuse's basket, but then went more than 13 minutes without a point. That allowed Briar Cliff to score the next 41 points to take a 47-5 lead.

The Chargers played their reserves extensively in the second half, where CSM had some brighter moments. The Flames were outscored just 33-31 after the break.

Primarily a 3-point shooter this season, freshman Meghan Keil grabbed all six of her rebounds in the second half and made a couple of nice drives to the basket, catching Miller's attention.

"I think Meghan did a great job, especially in that fourth quarter,'' Miller said. "That's something that we've been kind of pushing on her, to just get out of her bubble a little bit. … She's not a confident post defender, but in that fourth quarter she did a great job of battling with their posts.''

Freda Moore led the Flames with nine points, while Jazmyne Villalobos added seven. Maura Tichota joined Keil with six rebounds and Ella Klusman made three steals.

With five games remaining, Miller hasn't seen any quit in her team. She firmly believes victories are still out there.

"We had much better practices this week,'' she said. "I'm excited for us to kind of keep touching some of that potential a little bit. Take out the turnovers, and I feel like there are a number of things that we did do a solid job of and got better at. But we've got to be able to come out and compete when the pressure's on.''

CSM returns to action Wednesday with the 6 p.m. GPAC game at Doane University.