SAN BERNARDINO, CA — The Saint Martin's Women's Basketball team (2-0) would face Biola and Concordia University-Irvine over the weekend as they traveled down the coast to compete in the 2024 CSU-San Bernardino Challenge.
On Friday, the Saints would square off against Biola in what would end up being a defensive battle. SMU would jump out to a 19-10 lead after the first period thanks to a variety of Saints contributing with early scores, including
Sabrina Lopez, who would end up dropping 13 points, and
Avery Oaster, who would make a couple of baskets as the game kicked off.
Sarah Lamet would go to work in the paint, contributing eight points on offense, three boards, two assists, and a steal. Despite the added pressure from multiple Saints, the Eagles would claw back into the game by half, with SMU holding onto a slim 30-27 lead. The game would continue to be close into the third period, with
Keeli Jade Smith and
Madelyn Brown contributing a combined 11 rebounds that would prove to be crucial as the game progressed. In her first-ever regular season collegiate game,
Jada Travis would record a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds, which would ultimately give the Saints the edge they needed to pull further ahead in the fourth period. The Saints would win their first game of the weekend, 53-45.
Head Coach
Natalie Marlowe praised her team's defense and toughness in the first game:
"It's always nice to start the season with a win. We knew our defense was going to be the difference. We locked in and got stops when we needed to. Have to shout out Jada starting her career with a double-double; it was quiet but it showed the grit and toughness that will carry us throughout the season."
The Saints would follow up their day-one performance with a higher-scoring affair on Saturday against the Concordia-Irvine Golden Eagles. SMU and CUI would spend the entire first half trading leads and responding to the other's offensive attempts, with the Saints finding themselves down 27-24 at halftime. Travis would find herself close to another double-double with 11 points and eight rebounds, while Oaster would score seven, grab five rebounds, and contribute three assists to help the Saints get back on track in the second half. SMU would stay on pace with CUI in the third period but would still find themselves trailing going into the final ten minutes. Once the Saints tied it up at 44-44 with just six minutes left,
Kiana Rios would take over, scoring SMU's next ten points to give them the lead and keep it for the remainder of the period. Rios would end the day with the team's second double-double in two days with 24 points and 11 boards en route to a 61-51 victory.
SMU Women's Basketball will host the Evergreen State College at Marcus Pavilion on Wednesday, November 13th, at 6:00 PM PST. Get tickets
here.
