by CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The Flames are going into the holiday break on a positive note after a convincing win Saturday afternoon. The College of Saint Mary defeated Mount Mercy University 84-71 in the nonconference contest.
“What a great way to end the semester,” CSM Coach Jesse Flanagan said.
It was the Flames’ second win in their last three games and they now hold a 2-11 overall record.
Mount Mercy was actually the team that came out with the hot start Saturday as the Mustangs held a 28-15 lead after the opening quarter.
“We started off really sluggish at the beginning of the game,” Flanagan said. “But you have to credit Mount Mercy because they made shots. I think they were 6-for-7 from the 3-point line to start the game.”
But Flanagan said his squad didn’t panic and went on to outscore the Mustangs 17-16 in the second quarter to trail 44-32 at the intermission.
Then the tide changed when CSM was lighting up the scoreboard in the third quarter. The Flames outscored Mount Mercy 25-4 in that frame. CSM bested the Mustangs 27-23 in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
“We just stayed the course and knew that the numbers would even themselves out as the game went on – and they did,” Flanagan said. “We stayed in a 2-3 zone and didn’t panic and they eventually started missing shots. I told our ladies at halftime that this was going to set us up for a big comeback.”
Miranda Acuna (SR/San Antonio, Texas) led all scorers with 26 points for the Flames. Teammate Tyler Sumpter(Cheyenne & Arapaho) returned to the lineup after missing eight games because of an injury and she scored 20 points. Keona Cadore (JR/Mims, Fla.) tossed in 12 points, while Lacey Knudsen (SR/Fairplay, Colo.) chipped in 11 points and had a team-high nine rebounds.
The Flames shot 46 percent from the floor and 92 percent from the charity stripe.
“We shot the ball very well for the whole game,” Flanagan said. “When we started to make the extra pass and move the ball, good things started to happen. We had some really good individual performances from Miranda and Tyler.”
CSM is off for a holiday break until Dec. 29-30 when the Flames travel to California to participate in the Peninsula Classic.
