Late Drought Stings Lakers Against St. Ambrose

DAVENPORT, Iowa – An inopportune dry spell doomed Roosevelt as the Lakers fell to St. Ambrose 83-66 on Saturday afternoon in a road Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup in Davenport, Iowa.

Taylor Treat hit a pair of free throws with 7:04 left in regulation to cut the Lakers' deficit to five points, but those would be the final points Roosevelt (1-3, 1-2 CCAC) would score for the next five minutes and 22 seconds. The Fighting Bees would score 18 points while the Lakers struggled and their lead ballooned to 23 points before Amelia McNutt ended the drought. Roosevelt missed all seven of its shots and committed four turnovers during the deciding stretch.

Roosevelt had actually rallied to take a one-point lead with less than a minute left in the third quarter after trailing by nine points at the end of the first quarter. The Lakers cut significantly into that deficit in the second quarter by shooting 60 percent from the field and holding the Fighting Bees to just 3 of 14 from the floor. The two teams jockeyed for the lead for most of the third quarter with the game rarely exceeding a one-possession game.

However, after the Lakers took a 52-51 lead with 54 seconds left in the third quarter, the Fighting Bees took control. St. Ambrose made its final two shots of the third quarter then 11 of its 17 attempts in the fourth to extend out the lead. The final deficit was as tidy as it was thanks to McNutt, who scored seven of her 11 points in the final quarter, and Treat, who scored half of her 10 points in the fourth.

Jayla Turchin was the only reason the Lakers were even competitive in the first quarter, supplying nearly all of Roosevelt's offense. She scored the team's first nine points and made 4 of 5 from the field before the Fighting Bees went on an 8-0 run. Turchin added seven more points in the second quarter, giving her 16 of Roosevelt's 28 first-half points. The Lewis University transfer also grabbed seven rebounds in the first half, finishing the game with 23 points and 12 boards.

The Lakers also received some good news with the return of junior guard Gabby Beggs to the rotation.  The leading returning scorer from last season did most of her damage from the free-throw line with six of her 10 points coming at the stripe.

Roosevelt will try to stop its two-game skid Tuesday night in a non-league matchup with Purdue Northwest in Hammond, Indiana with tipoff scheduled for 5 p.m.