SAINT MARY-OF-THE-WOODS, Ind. -- The Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College women's basketball team battled back to earn a 71-67 home court victory over IU-Southeast in returning to action after the Holiday Break on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 4) inside the Knoerle Center.
SMWC now stands at 8-5 on the season including a 1-1 mark in River States Conference play with IU-Southeast dropped to 5-6 on the campaign. The Pomeroys are scheduled to take on IU-Columbus inside the Knoerle Center at 7:30 pm (ET) on Tuesday, January 7. Of course, officials from both schools will monitor the incoming winter weather prior to the contest.
Abby Worley came off the bench to lead the way in scoring with 17 points as she connected on a total of five 3-pointers to spur the key portion of the comeback win.
Madison Fueger tallied 12 points and had four blocked shots while
Destiny Thomas and Iyre Gomez each pitched in 11 points.
SMWC was led in rebounding by
Brooklynn Jones who tallied nine while Thomas added nine as well.
Diamond Bryant dished our four assists while Gomez tallied a trio of steals.
These two teams would battle back-and-forth over the opening 10 minutes when Worley hit a pair of free throws near the end of the period to knot the contest at 19.
IU-Southeast hit a pair of 3-pointers to begin the second quarter to give them a six point lead but SMWC would whittled away at the lead when Worley hit consecutive triples around the two minute mark to turn a four-point deficit into a 33-31 lead. An IU-Southeast trifecta with less than 30 seconds remaining gave them a 34-33 lead at the break.
The two teams would go back-and-forth over the first five minutes of the third quarter until IU-Southeast took a five-point lead. Worley hit a 3-pointer and
Samara Douglas converted a lay-up to knot the score at 47 with 3:59 to go. A lay-up from Thomas with 14 seconds left knotted the score at 54 heading into the fourth stanza.
IU-Southeast struck first in the fourth quarter but Jones drilled a 3-pointer to stake the Pomeroys to a 57-56 advantage. Gomez drilled a trifecta as the clock ticked under the six minute mark for the 60-57 lead. With just over three minutes to go and a 3-point lead for IU-Southeast, Douglas and and Thomas both scored down low to give SMWC a 64-63 lead. Jones hit the final field goal for the Pomeroys with 1:43 remaining for the 66-65 lead and SMWC did the rest of their damage at the free throw line for the 71-67 victory.
