Saturday night's matchup between the Alma College Women's Basketball team and Saint Mary's College pitted two teams in desparate need of a win, as both rode into the contest with losing streaks. Often times in a game like that, whoever comes out of the gate fast has the advantage.

Tonight was no different as the Scots came out flying and played perhaps their best 20 minutes of basketball this season. Alma rode hot shooting, stifling defense and tenacious overall play to lead by 21 at halftime. Saint Mary's never gave up, but this was the home team's night as the Scots came away with the 81-70 victory.

With the win, Alma is now 2-7 in the MIAA and 7-11 overall, while the Belles fell to 1-8 in the league and 3-15 overall, as they suffered their 13th consecutive defeat.

"The message to our team going in was to relax, have fun and believe in your abilities," said Alma Head Coach Kris Johnson. "We were fantastic in the first 20 minutes and very good for about 35 minutes overall. Even when we had a lull of about five minutes, the girls never panicked and they did the things they needed to do to close out the game. I'm very proud of them and this is really something to build upon as we go forward."

After an opening bucket by Saint Mary's, the Scots scored the next seven points and never really looked back. After the Belles made it 7-6, Alma went on a 15-2 run that was capped by a three-point basket by Sr. G Mallory Pruett (Ishpeming/Ishpeming) at the 14:05 mark.

Alma used scorching shooting to extend the lead to as many as 26 in the first frame, the last being at 43-17 after a lay-up by So. G Tara Padgett (Freeland/Freeland) with 4:07 left. The Belles would close to gap to 21, but the home team went into the break with a 47-26 advantage. The Scots shot 68% in the first 20 minutes (19 of 28) with Pruett and Padgett leading the way with 15 points a piece.

The second half began much like the first half, but the Belles would ultimately make it interesting before it was over. Alma still led by 20, at 59-39, when So. F Morgan Seaberg (North Muskegon/North Muskegon) put in a lay-up with 12:29 remaining in the game.

At this point, SMC made a bit of a run, closing the gap to 11 points (68-57) with 4:13 left in the contest. It would become an eight-point game, at 73-65, with 1:50 on the clock, but two big free throws by Sr. G Grace Wheeler (St. Ignace/LaSalle) stemmed the tide.

The Scots would then add a lay-up by Seaberg and two free throws each by Pruett and Padgett to secure the 81-70 victory, sending all the hometown fans home happy.

Padgett led the team with a career-high 25 points, while Pruett added 21 and Seaberg finished with nine. Padgett also was superb on the defensive end with eight steals and she also notched a team-high five assists. The leading rebounders were Pruett and Wheeler with six each and Pruett added six steals of her own. As a team, Alma had an impressive 21 total steals in the win.

Alma will now play their next three games on the road, beginning at Hope College on Wednesday evening. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The Scots will then play at Albion College and Kalamazoo College before returning home to face Olivet College on February 7.