Eagles Come up Short against Spires to Start Conference Play

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. – Avila women's basketball began KCAC play with a crosstown showdown with local rivals Saint Mary, and though the Eagles (0-5, 0-1 KCAC) battled until the very end, the Spires (3-2, 1-0) did enough in all four quarters to ultimately pull away for a 66-54 victory on Wednesday evening in Leavenworth.

Avila held a slim advantage on what was a dismal shooting night for both teams, but Saint Mary handily won the rebounding battle and took advantage of those boards, turning a +16 edge in rebounding into a +18 edge in second-chance points en route to an 11-point win. USM held a slight edge in scoring in all four quarters, never allowing the Eagles to come back and tie the game once they got down late in the first.

Both teams relied heavily on their starters – each team had only one player record double-digit minutes off the bench – as Avila put together easily its best fight of the season against a USM team that has designs on replicating last season's surprise late-season run and returning to the KCAC Tournament. Tanea Sims got the Spires on the board to start the action on Wednesday but the Eagles had an immediate counterattack thanks to a three-pointer from Hannah Pinkston and a second-chance bucket from Marlie Wright, putting Avila in front 5-2 early.

The Spires tied it up at seven just north of three minutes in before Pinkston, as she has done many times already this season, took over, scoring the next five points to give the Eagles a 12-7 lead with about 5:44 to play in the first. The Spires, however, countered with back-to-back threes to vault in front, and USM never trailed again.

Saint Mary held Avila scoreless for the rest of the first quarter, but Avila responded in kind by shutting out the Spires for the final three-plus minutes of the period to keep things close, 17-12, after ten minutes. The Eagles remained cold into the second quarter, however, and watched as USM stretched the lead into double digits before Avila pulled all the way back to within four late on after buckets from Madilyn Melton and Hannah Smith. Pinkston then set up Wright for a deep ball on the first play of the second half to get Avila within 28-25, but that was as close as they got. Saint Mary led by as many as 15 late in the fourth before Wright cashed in on a heave at the buzzer to cut the final margin down to 66-54 in favor of the home team.

Keely Barnard led all players with 19 points for the Spires, while Sims recorded a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Wright paced the offense for the Eagles with 15 points along with a team-high eight rebounds; Pinkston had another strong all-around game with 14 points, six boards, four assists and two steals.

Up next, Avila women's basketball returns to Mabee Fieldhouse for their first home KCAC game of the 2023-24 season this Saturday, November 18 against Southwestern. Tipoff is set for 1 PM with the men's game to follow at 3 PM; as always, you can watch all the action live and for free on the Avila Sports Network with Joe Van Amburg on the call from Kansas City.