Women's Basketball Drops Season Opener to Spring Arbor

(Lansing, MI)-- The new era of women's basketball began Saturday afternoon, as one of the Crossroad Conference's best came to Gannon Gymnasium, as the Cleary Cougar women's basketball team took on the Spring Arbor University Cougars in both team's season opener.

After withstanding multiple offensive rebound and shot attempts by SAU, Cleary would get on the board after a made layup to score the season's first points.  Spring Arbor quickly tied the game, and the two teams traded punches until the first quarter media timeout.  Spring Arbor would start to see their offense click first, and they built an 12-5 lead.  Izzy Dugal would make a pair of layups to cut back into that deficit.  After SAU knocked down a basket to regain a five-point advantage, Melanin Holman hit a three, cutting the Spring Arbor lead to two.  The visitors would score the quarter's final four points, and led 18-12 at the first half's midway point.

The second quarter would be a difficult one for Cleary, as the offense went cold, and Spring Arbor built a double-digit lead just over a minute into the action.  A pair of Samantha Hoelscher free throws would cut the deficit back to seven points, but SAU answered with a three, and built a 34-18 lead late in the half.  Melanin Holman would convert an and-one , but SAU scored just before the half to lead 36-21.

In the third quarter, Samantha Hoelscher and Izzy Dugal would score the points to get the Cougars back into the game.  By the 5:19 mark of the quarter, the SAU lead had shrunk to ten points.  Spring Arbor responded once again, reestablishing a 47-33 lead with just over two minutes remaining in the quarter.  Each team would trade baskets to finish out the quarter, and Cleary trailed 52-39 with ten minutes to play.  After going down 62-47, Grace Capling hit a three at the top of the key to get back within twelve points.  Another Spring Arbor basket was answered by a pair of Melanin Holman free throws, and Jess Andrew would connect on a layup down the stretch, but Cleary could not get with twelve points, as Spring Arbor would go on to win 76-60.

Samantha Hoelscher led CU with 20 points and 7 rebounds.  Melanin Holman added 14 points to go with 8 assists in her collegiate debut.  Izzy Dugal chipped in 12 points, 4 steals, and 8 rebounds.

Cleary is now 0-1 on the season, and will look to bounce back on Thursday, October 30, when they travel to Chicago to take on the Saint Xavier Cougars.  The game is scheduled to begin at 6:00 PM ET.