BOURBONNAIS, Ill. –  The Olivet Nazarene women's basketball team fought hard but fall to the (RV) St. Ambrose Fighting Bees 109-100 Wednesday night in McHie Arena. Caroline Boehne registered her fifth double-double of the season scoring 14 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in the loss.

St. Ambrose started the contest by shooting an efficient 58.8% from the floor in the first period. In contrast, Olivet Nazarene struggled to find their stroke going 2-14 from beyond the three-point arc. ONU's ability to turn the Fighting Bees over kept the game close. As the Tigers began to find their stride and clamped down defensively, both teams traded leads five times in the first quarter. At the first official break, ONU trailed 23-19

Olivet Nazarene turned their shooting woes around making six threes from six different tigers in the second quarter shooting from distance at a 60% percent clip. The outside shooting led to a couple of mini runs that chipped away at the SAU lead up until a layup from Maggie Cora with 58 seconds remaining in the half gave ONU their first lead of the night. St. Ambrose answered with a layup of their own and both teams went into the locker room tied.

Halftime: Olivet Nazarene 51, (RV) St. Ambrose 51

Out of the locker room, the Fighting Bees came out red-hot shooting 13-14 from the floor in the quarter. Once again, despite SAU's shooting, ONU's ability to force turnovers and 11 points from the bench kept the game close. Karina Smits scored 9 third-quarter points. Six of these points included two threes 33 seconds apart from one another. Saint Ambrose held the 81-76 lead as they headed into the fourth quarter.

The Tigers fought back to tie the game at 87-87 with 4:47 left. Two Kennedy Johnson layups and a Zanna Myers three-point basket made up a 7-0 run that leveled the score. St. Ambrose responded with a 10-1 run of their own and never looked back. With the road win, St. Ambrose extended their win streak to 12.

Game Vitals

Final: (RV) St. Ambrose 109, Olivet Nazarene 100

Records: Olivet Nazarene 10-8 (CCAC 7-4) | (RV) St. Ambrose 18-1 (CCAC 11-1)

Location: McHie Arena | Olivet Nazarene University | Bourbonnais, Ill.

Quick Hits

• Kennedy Johnson scored 20 points for the fourth time this season.
• Jamie Finn swiped 4 steals for the third time this year
• ONU's bench outscored SAU's 40-14 on the night
• The contest witnessed 12 ties and nine lead changes.
• Karina Smits scored in double digits for the seventh consecutive game off the bench.
• Anne Peters scored a season-high nine points in eight minutes of play.

The Tigers are back at home this Saturday as they host IU-Northwest in McHie Arena. Tip-off is slated for 1 p.m. Please visit onutigers.com for all the up-to-date links to follow all of the action.

--ONU—

*Contact: Patrick Kaindl, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, pkaindl@olivet.edu