By Scott DeWeerd, '15

The Albion College women's basketball team guaranteed a winning season with a 69-61 victory over Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association rival Saint Mary's College.

It was the final home game of the year for the Britons, who improved to 13-11 overall. The Britons finished with a 6-3 record at Kresge Gymnasium. Two of the losses came to nationally-ranked opponents.

"The winning season is good for the program," said Head Coach Doreen Carden. "We have no seniors and we improved on last year, so hopefully we can continue to get better.

"It's important to win at home," she added. "We did really well on our court this year." 

Saint Mary's had a hard time dealing with Darian Payne and Oreyana Curry. Payne, who had 10 points and eight rebounds in the first half, ended the night with 19 points while shooting 70 percent from the field and adding 12 rebounds and two blocks. Curry finished with 21 points and four assists. Curry has scored at least 20 in two of the last three games.

"They've been playing well and getting better," Carden said about the duo. "They came up huge tonight. Our offense struggled when we stopped moving and trying to get the ball inside to [Payne]." 

The Britons led by as many as 14 in the second half, but the Belles used a 15-4 run to cut the lead to 60-58 with just more than four minutes remaining. But the Britons showed impressive resiliency down the stretch and warded off the comeback attempt. 

"I was proud of our kids," said Carden about the team's response to the Saint Mary's run. "Young teams fold a lot of times, but we didn't panic — we held on."

The Britons received some contribution from the bench with Tierra Orban scoring five points, collecting three rebounds, and dishing out two assists, and Caroline Adamczyk adding six points, five rebounds, and a pair of steals. 

The Albion women return to the floor for their season finale on Saturday when they take a road trip to play Rochester College. Tip off is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.