Season Recap

2011 Season Recap

The Belles basketball team continued to raise the bar with another successful season in 2010-11. The year began with the team winning their first four games of the season, something that had not been accomplished in the last 30 years of intercollegiate basketball at Saint Mary’s. Among those wins was a lopsided victory against a Wheaton team who would finish second in their conference behind Division III Final Four Illinois Wesleyan. Later that same week, the Belles won the 2010 Holiday Inn Select Tip-Off Tournament over host North Central for the first tournament title for the program since the 2004-05 season.

In December, the team opened up their conference season with a tough loss to Calvin but came back with wins over Olivet and Alma before their final non-conference games of the year. Against the Scots, the Belles made a staggering 37 of 54 free throws for a come-from-behind victory at home.

After returning from San Diego and a third place finish at the Surf 'N Slam Tournament, the Belles dropped a pair of conference games to Hope and Albion to begin 2011. Rather than crumbling, the team won nine of their next eleven games to go from a 2-3 conference record to an 11-5 mark in MIAA play. The eleventh conference win was also the Belles' 18th overall win on the year, setting a new school record for victories in a season while securing a third-place finish for the Belles. This season marks the sixth consecutive season that the Saint Mary's basketball team finished in the top four in the MIAA.

For the second straight year, the Belles basketball team maintained at least a .500 winning percentage or above. Last season, the team accomplished the feat for the first time since the 1988-89 season. This season, the team was well above a .500 win-loss percentage for the entire year.

At the end of the regular season, the team had also shot and made more free throws than any other team in NCAA Division III women’s basketball. When the national tournament was said and done, the Belles had made more free throws than any other Division III women's team. Only one team, George Fox, shot more free throws during the 2010-11 season than Saint Mary’s while it took the Bruins five more games to accomplish the task. Moreover, the team made more free throws than all but six NCAA Division III men’s teams.

The Belles' 544 made free throws on the year was a new school record as the team saw four new school records and two new MIAA records set by the Saint Mary’s squad in 2010-11.

Kelley Murphy '12, Maggie Ronan '12, and Liz Wade '11 each were named All-MIAA by conference coaches at the end of the season. Murphy became the ninth player in school history to score 1,000 career points. She is just the third player to accomplish the feat as a junior. A three-time MIAA Player of the Week, she was an All-MIAA First Team honoree. Ronan had a breakout junior season and was a two-time MIAA Player of the Week. The junior guard was named to the All-MIAA Second Team. Wade, meanwhile, completed her career as the all-time leader in single season and career steals. An All-MIAA Second Team honoree this season, she was the 2009 MIAA Most Valuable Defensive Player.