Hoelscher Sets New School Record as Cleary Tops LTU

(Lansing, MI)-- The Cleary Cougar women's basketball team picked up their first WHAC victory of the season Tuesday, as they took down the visiting Lawrence Tech Blue Devils 79-70 Tuesday evening in Lansing.

Cleary started the game off strong, as they scored the first seven points of the game, and eleven of the first thirteen points total in the game, as CU led 11-2 at the 6:42 mark of the first quarter.  LTU would start to knock down some threes to climb back into the game, and would take the lead at the 3:02 mark of the opening quarter.  There would be some back and forth action, but a Samantha Hoelscher layup with 5 seconds remaining would give the Cougars a 21-20 lead after ten minutes.

LTU would continue to make open threes, but Samantha Hoelscher was an unstoppable force, and was able to keep Cleary in the mix.  The Blue Devils would gain some ground late in the half, and held a 42-37 lead at the break.   Hoelscher led all scorers with 21 first half points.

The two teams would continue to trade baskets, ties, and leads, in the third quarter, with LTU earning their largest lead of their game late in the third quarter after knocking down another pair of three points, taking a 59-53 lead.  Cleary would turn up the defensive intensity in the fourth, as the Cougars held LTU to 4/22 shooting in the final ten minutes.  That effort helped Cleary outscore the Blue Devils 26-11, as the Cougars built a double-digit lead late that they were able to hold onto for their first WHAC victory of the season.

Samantha Hoelscher led all scorers with 29 points, a new school record for most points in a single game, on 12/22 shooting.  She also grabbed 5 rebounds and had 2 steals.  Mileisha Rodriguez would be almost perfect from the floor, shooting 9/11 to have 19 points, while also grabbing 11 rebounds and 3 blocks for her first double-double of the season.  Taedom Stein had 12 points, 8 rebound, 5 assists, and 3 steals, While Amelia Storm chipped in 7 points and 7 rebounds.

Cleary had 52 points in the paint to LTU's 18, while LTU would hit 13 3's to Cleary's 5.  The Cougars outrebounded LTU 49-31 in the contest.

Cleary is now 2-6 overall, 1-1 in the WHAC.  The Cougars will travel to Kalamazoo on Wednesday to take on the NCAA D1 Western Michigan Broncos in an exhibition game that can be viewed on ESPN+.  The action gets underway at 12:00 PM ET.