Women's Basketball Falls Against Eagles

MEMPHIS, Tenn.—The Fontbonne University women's basketball team dropped its first game on the season to open the Rhodes Classic against University of the Ozarks, 65-53.

The Griffins (1-1), shot 32.2 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Eagles 45-39. However, the team struggled from downtown (6-of-36) and totaled 24 turnovers.

Offensively, Paige Black led with a team and season-high 15 points and seven boards on 5-of-15 shooting. Raven Venegas recorded her first double-double on the year with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, while Riley Guffey had 10 points of her own.

The Eagles (1-3), ended the night with a 32.3 field goal percentage and went 17-of-21 (81.0 percent) from the charity stripe. Hailey Ostrander led all scorers with a game-high 20 points.

In the first, Mallory Proffer cut the deficit down to 9-5 after a layup at the 2:40 mark. The Eagles, though closed out the quarter on a 6-0 run to take an eight-point lead after one.

In the second, the Eagles went on a 7-2 run in three minutes and 42 seconds time to take a 22-9 lead. Fontbonne got its offense going as they went on an 11-3 run over the next five minutes to make it 25-20 on Sarah Schraut's made free throw.

Ozarks answered with a Diamond Goodwyn bucket, but prior to the half ending, Proffer drained her jump shot to put Fontbonne down 27-22.

After shooting just 21.4 percent in the first quarter, the Griffins shot 38.5 percent in the second and were led by Rylee Stafford's five points.

In the third, Raven Venegas made it 33-28 after making her layup with 6:09 to go. The Eagles, however, closed out the final minutes on a 10-3 run to expand its lead out to 43-31 heading to the fourth.

In the finale, Black hit her 3-pointer at 6:07 to trim the lead down to 47-38. With the Eagles shooting 50.0 percent (5-of-10) in the fourth that'd be as close as the Griffins get with Ozarks going on for the 12-point win.

The team looks to bounce back tomorrow to close out the weekend slate against host Rhodes. Tip-off at 4 p.m.

Fans make sure to stay updated on fontbonnegriffins.com throughout the year for full updates and recaps on the women's basketball team.

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