LAS VEGAS -- The Green Knights of St. Norbert College ended the Bates College women's basketball team's seven-game winning streak on Tuesday, with a 78-69 win in the D3hoops.com Classic at South Point Hotel Events Center.
St. Norbert rose to 7-1 on the season, while Bates dropped to 7-2. The Bobcats will take on Kenyon College on Wednesday at 2 p.m. (Pacific). The game can be followed live by video streaming at this link and by live stats at this link.
Rachel Hermus scored a game-high 26 points for St. Norbert, leading four Green Knights in double figures. Jamie Kuhl added 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
Bates sophomore Allie Beaulieu (Swampscott, Mass.) scored a career-high 24 points while shooting 6-of-8 from three-point territory. Senior captain Christine McCall (Lowell, Mass.) set career highs in scoring (15 points) and assists (5), and also tied her career high with three steals.
Senior captain Jessie Igoe (Lexington, Mass.) scored 10 points for Bates, and junior captain Annie Burns (Topsfield, Mass.) dished out a game-high seven assists.
St. Norbert outrebounded Bates by a 36-23 margin, including 14 offensive boards, leading to a 21-7 edge in second-chance points and a 42-22 advantage in points in the paint. The Green Knights also shot .509 (28-55) from the field and hit 20 of 25 free throws (.800), while Bates shot .442 (23-52) from the floor and made 14 of 15 foul shots (.933).
A back-and-forth first half featured seven lead changes, the last of which, a layup by Krista Pelky with seven seconds left in the period, gave St. Norbert a 32-31 lead at the half.
A three-pointer by Bates junior Lauren Dobish (Chambersburg, Pa.) to open the second half gave the Bobcats their final lead, as Hermus answered with a jumper to tie the game at 34 and Stefanie Bunday's layup put St. Norbert on top 36-34.
Beaulieu, who went 3-for-3 behind the arc in the second half en route to 13 points in the period, nailed a three on a Burns assist with 14:49 left in the game to tie the game at 42, Hermus, who scored 18 points in the second half, again answered, making a layup and following that with a three of her own for a 47-42 lead. Bates retied the game, however, as McCall made a pair of free throws and junior Kelsey Flaherty (South Portland, Maine) converted a three-point play with 11:44 left, knotting the score at 47-47.
St. Norbert then went on a key 13-5 run, with seven points by Bunday and five by Hermus, to assume a 60-52 advantage with 8:07 to go. Bates cut the lead to three two more times, including with 1:46 left on a pair of free throws by McCall. A tip-in by Kuhl pushed the lead back to five, and St. Norbert made all four free throws in the final minute to ice its win.
Beaulieu's previous career high of 23 points was scored on Jan. 9, 2010 at Tufts. McCall notched her previous career high of 12 points on two previous occasions.