CHICAGO, Ill. --- Trailing 24-21 at the half, the Ave Maria Women's Basketball team outscored Roosevelt 29-9 in the third quarter to pull away for a 66-46 season opening win on Wednesday night.
 
Jasmine Bateman led the Lady Gyrenes with 17 points on 3-for-5 shooting from three and a 6-for-6 performance from the free throw line. Mallory Burton added 13 points while Lauren Gillingham finished with 11 points and a team-high eight assists. Sarah Miller recorded a team high 10 rebounds and Erin Landis led AMU with four blocks.
 
The Lady Gyrenes shot 38.1 percent from the field including going 16-for-31 in the second half. AMU made six threes in the second half.
 
The Blue and Green held a big advantage on assists, 21 to 9, and had 11 blocks on the night.
 
Paige Gallimore led Roosevelt with 15 points. She was the only Roosevelt player in double-figures.
 
Roosevelt took the early lead in the game and it wasn't until 1:21 remaining in the first quarter that the Lady Gyrenes took their first lead, 10-9, on a three by Veronica Minervino. After retaking the lead later in the first quarter, Roosevelt continued to lead for most of the second quarter and took a 24-21 into the half.
 
AMU opened the third quarter with a three by Bateman to tie the game at 24 before a pair of fast break layups by Burton and Katie Houbolt gave AMU a four-point edge. Houbolt capped the 10-point spurt with a three to make it 31-24. After a Roosevelt basket, the Lady Gyrenes went on a 14-2 run to extend their lead to 17 points.  
 
Ave Maria pushed their lead in the fourth quarter to a game-high 26 points after a fastbreak lay-in by Katie Ringdahl to make it 66-40. The Blue and Green went on to win by 20, 66-46.
 
The Lady Gyrenes return to the court tomorrow night when they take on Judson at 5 p.m. EST (4 p.m. CST).