LACEY, Wash. – The Saints opened up a double-digit lead in the first quarter, only to quickly have it washed away in the second. Saint Martin's was unable to find their form from the first quarter, and fell to Western Washington 75-67 for their seventh straight loss.
A complete opposite performance from the Saints in the opening quarter on Saturday, compared to their game on Thursday. The Saints jumped out to a 23-11 lead, and seemed to have everything under control. Western Washington answered back with a forceful 31-11 second quarter performance. Saint Martin's managed to cut the score to single possessions but was never able to regain the lead as they continue to look for their first win in the 2019 year.
Western Washington led 7-6 just three and half minutes in before foul trouble affected their bigs. Without size on the court, the Saints began attacking down low and with so with ease. To close out the quarter, Saint Martin's outscored the Vikings 16-4, and held their largest lead of the game.
Trailing by 11 with 7:35 left in the half, Western was able to erase the deficit within four minutes. A 3-pointer, one of only eight in the game by either side, put WWU on top 31-30. They continued their run and closed out the half with a 45-37 lead.
The Vikings' lead hit double-digits, but behind the scoring efforts of
Claire Dingus and
Saniah Simpson-Patu the Saints trimmed the lead down to just one point. Dingus put together one of the best offensive quarters of the season, scoring 11 points, including 10 of the Saints' 12 points in a four minute stretch.
Saint Martin's and Western Washington traded blows in the fourth quarter, with Vikings' lead hitting as many as eight, and as little as two. However, in the end, the Saints were unable once again to find the critical points down the stretch and fell to the Vikings 75-67.
Dingus finished the game with 19 points, which led all scorers, on 9-of-13 shooting, along with six rebounds, and one steal.
Makenna Schultz and Simpson-Patu rounded out at 10 and nine points respectively, while Simpson-Patu added eight rebounds, and two steals.
Jayla Russ and Rebakah Baugh combined for 17 points off the bench, and a nearly perfect 12-for-13 at the line.
As a team, Saint Martin's shot 22-for-55 (40.0 percent) from the field, 3-for-17 (17.6 percent) beyond the arc, and 20-for-27 (74.1 percent) at the line. The Saints grabbed 34 rebounds, 10 assists on 18 turnovers, along with four blocks and five steals.
The Saints travel to the state of Alaska for a pair of games, starting with Alaska Anchorage on Thursday, January 24 at 8:00 p.m. Live stats and video of the game will be available on smusaints.com.
