The Beloit College women's basketball team fell to St. Norbert College 67-66 on the road Tuesday as the Green Knights posted a huge fourth quarter comeback to tally the victory. Senior forward Candace Cunningham moved into the program record book with 17 rebounds in the game, tied for sixth in Beloit College women's basketball history.
Shelby Kline got the Buccaneers going right out of the gate with the first bucket of the game, a three-pointer just over a minute into the game. Kline hit another and Danielle Strejc got in on the action from downtown to lead the Bucs to a 14-10 lead after the first.
Free throws dominated the second quarter. Ten of the 20 points scored in the period came from the charity stripe as the Green Knights cut the Buc advantage in half to two, 23-21, at intermission.
Kline took over in the third scoring 15 points in ten minutes of play. The Bucs dropped 31 in the quarter as the offenses heated up extending the margin into double figures, 54-42, heading into the final period of play.
SNC opened the fourth with a 9-2 run, five of those points coming from the free throw line, to narrow the gap to five, 56-51, with 8:13 on the clock. By the 2:07 mark, St. Norbert had whittled the lead to one and a three-pointer on their next possession gave the home team the lead, 66-64 with 1:18 to play.
A technical foul on the Bucs sent the Green Knights to the charity stripe. Macie Zurfluh made one of two to make it 67-64 with 1:12 showing on the clock.
Cunningham nailed a jumper off an assist from Lauren Glaser to make it 67-66 with just over a minute to play but the Bucs were not able to get another shot off the rest of the way.
Free throws were the name of the game as St. Norbert made 17 of their 28 opportunities from the line. The Bucs made just 10 trips to the charity stripe making seven.
Kline led all scorers with 23 adding four assists in the contest. Cunningham dropped in 12 points to go with 17 boards to tally the double-double. Kelly McLean contributed 11 points and Glaser led all players with six assists.
