CHICO, Cali. – The Saint Martin's women's basketball team (2-2) nearly pulled off a major comeback on Saturday afternoon, erasing a 17-point deficit before eventually falling 59-52 to Chico State University (2-2).
 
The usual defense came to play in the first quarter as the Saints suffocated the Wildcats, holding them to just nine points. Offense was hard to come by for SMU as well, though, fighting back with just 10 points in the frame. It was an Emily Nelson layup with 58 seconds left in the quarter that gave the Saints the edge going into the fourth. The second quarter tilted heavily to the Wildcats with CSU going on a huge run to pair with solid defense. After the dust had settled going into halftime, Saint Martin's was trailing 33-19 heading into the locker room.
 
After the sides split points in the third, the Saints stormed back early in the fourth. Eight quick points were scored with six coming from Lauryn Morris, and the other bucket from Anjel Galbraith. Galbraith then took over scoring five unanswered to cut the deficit to just three points, as close as the Saints would get. The Wildcats knocked down their free throws late and except for a couple high-difficulty threes from Rian Clear, SMU couldn't muster up much more offense.
 
The Saints are back home on Tuesday, November 22^nd when they host the Cougars of Azusa Pacific University (3-2). Tipoff is planned for 3 PM at Marcus Pavilion.