SOUTHFIELD, Mich.- The Ave Maria University women's basketball team finished up their time in Michigan on Sunday, playing their second game in the Blue Devil Classic, hosted by Lawrence Tech. The Gyrenes could not dig themselves out of an early deficit, and fell 76-50 to the Saints of Siena Heights University.
Siena Heights jumped out to a big lead in the first quarter, outscoring the Gyrenes 25-12 in the opening ten minutes. Ave Maria was held without a field goal for nearly eight minutes, until a three-pointer from Nuria Castillo ended the spell. Siena Heights knocked down five three-pointers in the opening frame, while the Gyrenes missed five of their six long distance chances.
AMU did outscore the Saints in the second quarter, getting the Siena Heights lead to as small as seven points. The Saints initially built their lead to 16, 34-18, but Ave Maria rallied with a 13-4 run, keyed by three layups by Colleen Shanahan. Two free throws from Catie Reszel had the lead down to 38-31 with under a minute to play, and a final free throw from SHU's Allye Minor supplied the halftime score of 39-31.
In the second half, Ave Maria's offense went cold, as the Gyrenes scored just 19 points in the final 20 minutes. AMU was especially cold in the fourth quarter, when Ave Maria missed 17 of 19 shots, including all eight three-point attempts. Conversely, the Saints shot better than 45 percent from the field in the second half, including 50 percent in the final frame. Siena Heights outscored the Gyrenes 19-11 in the third quarter and 18-8 in the fourth, allowing the Saints to pull away from Ave Maria.
Ave Maria's scoring was scattered across the roster on Sunday, as eleven players scored at least one point, and none scored more than eight. Four Gyrenes - Lavariah Armstead, Casey Humphrey, Colleen Shanahan, and Nuria Castillo all scored eight points to lead the Gyrenes. Shanahan also added seven rebounds to pace Ave Maria on the glass.
Sunday marks the final non-conference game for the Gyrenes until after Thanksgiving, as Ave Maria will begin Sun Conference play on Thursday night. The Gyrenes will take on the Warriors of Webber International University as the opening game of a men's and women's basketball doubleheader. Tipoff of the opener of the Sun Conference season between the Gyrenes and the Warriors is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at the Donahue Academy gymnasium.
