Just one week removed from beating Kansas Wesleyan, who was ranked No. 21 in Division-II of the NAIA, the Saint Mary women’s basketball team couldn’t come up with the same performance against No. 15 Sterling College on Thursday night and lost 75-44.
Sterling (18-4, 12-1 in Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference play) has now won 15 out of their last 16 games, but Saint Mary head coach Mike Basler was still disappointed that his team couldn’t stay in the game against them.
“They’re really good, but I’ll be honest: I’ve seen better Sterling teams than that,” Basler said. “And we’ve played them with worse teams than we’ve had this year, and we’ve played them closer than we did tonight. ... That’s the tough part for me.”
Just as in the first meeting between the two teams this season on Dec. 12, the Spires (6-17, 3-10 in the KCAC) had trouble containing the Warriors’ Brittany Gasper on Thursday. Gasper had 17 points and eight rebounds in the first game against USM, but she stepped up even from that effort and had 17 points by halftime on Thursday, helping Sterling to a 40-15 lead at the intermission.
She finished with a career-high 24 points on 10-for-12 shooting from the field and again had eight rebounds.
“She didn’t dunk it and she didn’t shoot any threes, but she did everything else,” Basler said. “She scored on offensive rebounds, she scored on post moves, she scored on face-ups.”
USM was only outscored 35-29 in the second half, but they couldn’t get back in the game. They went only 2-for-13 (15 percent) from the 3-point line. Samantha Ciani finished with 12 points and three steals to lead the Spires in both categories, and she also tied for the team lead in rebounding with Tyla Warren and Janae Garcia, who each had four boards. Sterling only outrebounded USM 32-28.
Garcia added nine points, and Lindsay Stacks and Artra Griffin each had six. Sarah Beshears had four in her first game back after a knee injury sidelined her last week. Jasmine Johnson added three, and Mindy Eckert and Carmisha Harper both had two.
Stacks made the only two 3-pointers for USM, doing so in three attempts. Beshears, Michelle Chrisman, and Katie Joens each tied for the team lead with three assists, as the Spires had 15 assists on their 17 made baskets.
“Our effort was good...” Basler said of his team’s preparation. “But Sterling is a quality team.”
Catheryn Wiebe finished with 16 points for Sterling, but USM held Wiebe, the KCAC’s leading rebounder, to only six boards in 29 minutes. The Warriors shot the ball well, though, going 28-for-55 (51 percent) from the field and 5-for-14 (36 percent) from the 3-point line. USM went 17-for-43 (40 percent) from the field.
With the win, Sterling stayed in first place in the KCAC by one game over Kansas Wesleyan. USM is tied for eighth with Ottawa, but the Spires have the better overall record.
Saint Mary will return home next, where they play Bethel (13-8, 9-4 in the KCAC) on Saturday at 5 p.m. Bethel is tied for third with Southwestern but has a worse overall record.
