LACEY, Wash. – Facing off in the annual contest between in-county rivals, the Saint Martin Saints picked up a 70-63 win over the Evergreen Geoducks in an exhibition women’s basketball game on Tuesday night at Marcus Pavilion in Lacey, Wash.

Saint Martin’s took the initial lead on a three-pointer by Jordyn Richardson and never trailed the rest of the way.  Evergreen put up a good fight though, staying with the Saints the whole game.  SMU pushed the lead into double-digits with just over five minutes to go in the first period but the Geoducks cut the gap to eight heading into the break, down 37-29.

In the second half, the Saints again pushed the lead into double-digits but the Geoducks battled back and outscoring SMU in the period 34-33 en route to the 70-63 final.  Evergreen dominated the pain in the second half, outscoring SMU 26-12 in the key.  The Geoducks also took advantage of offensive rebounds, scoring 12 second-chance points in the final 20 minutes.

Evergreen was led by 21 points from forward Brittany Gray (Bainbridge Island, Wash./Bainbridge HS/Skagit Valley CC).  Sammi Clark (Monroe, Wash./Monroe HS/Edmonds CC) added 17 points to go with five assists while Kiemba Pearson (Seattle, Wash./Renton HS/Highline CC) added 11 points and nine rebounds in the exhibition loss.

Saint Martin’s was led by 22 points from Chelsea Haskey.  Angela Gelhar came off the bench to add 12 points for the Saints.  SMU shot 42.6% from the field, connecting on 23-of-54 attempts.

The Geoducks are back in action again on Wednesday as they officially open the season at home with a non-conference tilt against rival Northwest.  Tip with the Eagles is set for 6 p.m. at CRC Gymnasium in Olympia, Wash.

Box Score