All Five Starters Reach Double-Figures In Griffins Tough Loss Against Cardinals

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.—The Fontbonne University women's basketball team put up a season-high 25 points in the fourth quarter but the comeback was not to be in the Griffins 74-68 loss against Otterbein.

Fontbonne (4-7), shot a season-high 46.9 percent from the floor, hit 11 3-pointers, and went 11-of-13 from the charity stripe. However, the team was held to a season-low three offensive rebounds.

Individually, Paige Black played all 40:00 minutes and finished with a team-high 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting. She also led them defensively with four steals which gives her 17 in the last three games.

Riley Guffey had all of her points come from downtown as she went 4-of-7 to finish with 12 points, while Raven Venegas had 11. Rylee Stafford and Jillian Venegas contributed 10 points each.

Otterbein (4-5), shot 39.7 percent from the floor and hit just three 3-pointers, however, the team went 21-of-23 (91.3 percent) from the free throw line and controlled the glass with 38 boards, including totaling 13 on the offensive side.

Dani Kissel led the Cardinals with a game-high 17 points and eight rebounds. Abbie Scholz finished with 14 points, while Ali Cartnal (13), Angelia Jackson (12), and Alex Schaffer (12), were the final players to reach double-figures.

In the first quarter, the Griffins were down 11-10 at the five-minute mark after Black hit her 3-pointer. The Cardinals got its lead out to 15-10 two minutes and six seconds later on Scholz's layup. From there, the Cardinals held onto its marginal lead the rest of the way to take a 21-16 advantage after one.

Fontbonne went 5-of-11 from the floor in the first but collected zero offensive rebounds. Otterbein, meanwhile, got up 10 more attempts going 9-of-21 and finished with a 10-7 rebounding lead.

In the second, the two teams didn't shoot the ball particularly well with each having a field goal percentage of 25.0 percent or below.

The Cardinals, though scored the first five points to take a 26-16 lead. Fontbonne answered back with a 5-0 run on buckets from Black and a 3-pointer from Sarah Schraut at 4:33.

Later, the Cardinals got the lead out to 10 (33-23) again, but prior to the half ending, Schraut drained her 3-pointer to make it 33-26 at the break.

Down 37-29 in the third, the Griffins went on a 6-0 run to trim the deficit down to 37-35 on Guffey's 3-pointer at 6:48.

Otterbein gained some breathing room over the next two minutes and stretched the lead to 44-37 on Scholz's layup again. Each team scored six points in the final four minutes and going into the fourth the Cardinals led 50-43.

In the fourth, the team shot an impressive 62.5 percent from the field, but the Cardinals were right there with them hitting 7-of-11 (63.6 percent).

The Griffins were down 56-55 on Raven Venegas' made jumper with 6:34 remaining in regulation. The Cardinals responded with two made free throws and two made buckets to cap off its 6-0 run in one minute and 26 seconds.

Fontbonne got the deficit down to 64-40 on Jillian Venegas' 3-pointer, but the Cardinals went 6-of-6 from the line and made a couple necessary buckets for the six-point win.

The Griffins will get some time off before returning to the court at home on January 2^nd against SLIAC unbeaten, Greenville University. Tip-off at 5:30 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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