Saturday afternoon was Pink Day 2013 at Art Smith Arena as the Scots Women's Basketball team hosted Saint Mary's College. On a day that the team was bringing attention to Breast Cancer Awareness and raising money for prevention programs, the two schools tipped off for an important league contest.

"Today Smith Arena was buzzing with lots of energy and excitement for the men's and women's games but also because it was our pink game and that is always an exciting day for us," said Alma Head Coach Keisha Brown.  "It's a very personal day for me as I have beaten cancer three times in five years.  Today everyone in the Arena was fighting for someone because in some way we are all touched by the disease.  

"There were raffles which were a huge success, we had a hair cutting station for people who wanted to donate hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths that make wigs for those with cancer, as well as we had flash mob that performed Stand Up. Today we all stood up to cancer and won!"

The Scots prevailed in the game by a score of 71-62 to improve to 6-8 in the MIAA and 7-15 overall, keeping their postseason hopes alive. With the loss, the Belles dropped to 3-12 in the league and 5-19 for the 2012-13 season.

"The women had an exciting game against a good Saint Mary's team and they came out with a 7-0 run the first minute and a half of the game," remarked Brown. "We took a time and regrouped and was able to gain the lead.  We played well this afternoon as a team. Mary and Bailey were strong in leading us with scoring, but we had big buckets by Stephanie Faller, and some huge rebounds and hustle by Olivia Bishop.  

"Today was a complete team win that we needed. The girls will enjoy it this weekend but we know we have to get back at it on Monday if we are going to reach our goal of making the MIAA tournament."

Saint Mary's jumped out to a 6-0 lead but the Scots did not panic and methodically came back to lead 10-9 on a jump shot by Jr. Mary Schlicher (Lewiston, Mich./Johannesburg-Lewiston) with 14:49 left in the half. Alma would open up a five-point lead before the Belles closed the gap to one at 22-21 at the 9:42 mark.

Alma would then outscore Saint Mary's by a margin of 20-6 over the remainder of the first half. Fr. G Kassidi Adams (Montrose, Mich./Montrose) gave the Scots a 34-26 lead at 2:38 and then Jr. C Sarah Stinson (Waterford, Mich./Kettering) hit a lay-up in the waning seconds of the frame, giving the home team their biggest lead at 41-28.

For most of the second half, it felt as though the Scots would cruise to the victory. A lay-up by Fr. F Raeanna Zink (Birch Run, Mich./Frankenmuth) gave the home team a 67-46 advantage with 8:16 left in the game. But, the Belles kept fighting and went on a 15-0 run over the next six minutes to cut the deficit to 67-61 at the 2:19 mark.

However, the Scots were not to be denied on this afternoon and fought back the late charge by the visitors. Saint Mary's could only muster one more point the rest of the way and Alma was able to leave the court with the 71-62 win on a successful Pink Day for the Scots.

Schlicher paced the Scots with team-highs in points (12) and rebounds (11), while Fr. F Bailey Gooding (Gaylord, Mich./Gaylord) added 11 points. Adams finished with nine points and six rebounds, while So. G Mallory Pruett (Ishpeming, Mich./Ishpeming) contributed eight points and a team-best three steals defensively.

The Scots will host Trine University on Wednesday night for a key MIAA match-up at Art Smith Arena. Tip-off for Senior Night 2013 is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.