Women's basketball team opens MIAA play with 80-66 win at Kalamazoo

The Olivet College women's basketball team opened the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) portion of its schedule with an 80-66 win tonight against Kalamazoo College at the Anderson Athletic Center in Kalamazoo.

In the first half, the Hornets raced out to an eight-point lead, 12-4, at the 15:59 mark. Olivet responded with a 9-0 run to take a 13-12 lead. Kalamazoo came back to knot the score at 15-15 and 19-19. Following the 19-19 tie, the Comets took the lead for good and built their lead to as many as nine points, 36-27, with 2:07 left before halftime. At the break, Olivet held a 40-32 advantage behind 16-of-30 shooting (53.3 percent) from the floor and 7-of-8 shooting from the charity stripe.

The Comets opened the second half with 24-8 run to extend its lead to 24 points, 64-40. The lead would stay double digits for the rest of the game. Kalamazoo was held to one point in the final 4:44 of the game.

Olivet used a balanced scoring attack to gain the victory. Junior Gabrielle Federau (Okemos) posted her third collegiate double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Seniors Lauren Fishwick (Trenton) and Sarah Mangold (Sterling Heights/Bishop Foley) each tallied 12 points. Sophomore Caitlin Thilo (Onondaga/Eaton Rapids) and freshman Olivia Yarrell (Lansing/Sexton) contributed 11 and 10 points, respectively.

For Kalamazoo, Nymade Cooper led all scorers with 25 points. Michelle Maiuri had 12 points, while Michelle Gigowski and Carley Zeitlin collected 11 points apiece.

The Comets return to the court Saturday when they host Saint Mary's (Ind.) College. Tip-off at The Cutler Event Center is scheduled for 3 p.m.