01/14/06

St. Scholastica bounced back from an 8 point halftime deficit to win their second in a row, a 61-60 thriller over Martin Luther at the Reif on Saturday afternoon.

Dismal shooting in the first half -- 23% from the field -- along with 11 turnovers put the Saints down by as many as 12 points in the opening half.

Steadily climbing back in the second half, the Saints finally tied the score at 37-37 with 13:04 to play and grabbed their first lead of the game a minute later when Amanda Johnson sank a 3-point attempt.

Over the next six minutes the Saints would hold the lead but Martin Luther knotted it up again at 57-57 with just under four to play.

The Knights then grabbed a lead they would maintain until Erin Niles' short jumper put the Saints in front by 1 with 40 seconds to play.

Martin Luther ran the play clock down to 3 seconds before calling a timeout. Their last shot of the game was off the mark and rebounded by Jen Kne who was fouled with 0.8 seconds showing on the game clock.

She missed her free throw but a full court Hail Mary shot from the Knights wasn't close and the Saints were able to put this one in the books as a hard fought victory.

Kne led the Saints with 17 points, but Amanda Johnson put her mark on the win scoring 15 after averaging only 4.4 points so far this season.

As a team, the Saints shot much better in the second half of the game, raising their shooting percentage to nearly 43%. Meanwhile, defensively, the Saints played a much better second half, limiting the Knights to 35% shooting after their opening half of over 44%.

Today's win evens the Saints UMAC mark at 2-2 and keeps them in the hunt for the conference crown.