Lourdes used a strong second half to pull away from Michigan-Dearborn on Tuesday evening to earn its first Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference victory of the season, defeating the Wolverines 60-45 at Tam-o-Shanter.
 
The Gray Wolves forced 13 second half turnovers, and 23 for the game, and tallied 14 offensive boards over the final 20 minutes which led to 12 second chance points.
 
An 18-4 run over five minutes in the opening quarter, capped by a three-pointer from Niki Meyer (Liberty Center, Ohio/Liberty Center H.S.) gave the Gray Wolves a 22-10 lead less than eight minutes into the contest.  Michigan-Dearborn answered with a five-minute run of its own in the second quarter, a 12-4 spurt, and pulled within four, 32-28, by halftime.
 
"I think our pressure bothered them early," head coach Karen McConnell said afterwards.  "We need to learn to put teams away though and be more disciplined."
 
Lourdes came out the third quarter and slowly increased the lead, holding the Wolverines to just five points in the period.  Michigan-Dearborn was held scoreless for the first seven minutes.  Leading by nine heading into the final 10 minutes, the Gray Wolves were finally able to put the game out of reach in the final 2:23.  Lourdes scored seven straight points to lead by as many as 17 on the way to the victory.
 
Jesse Fidler (Archbold, Ohio/Archbold H.S.) led Lourdes with 20 points and eight rebounds, seven on the offensive end, while Lindsey Motycka (Convoy, Ohio/Crestview H.S.) added 11 points and eight boards.  Constance Conner (Cleveland, Ohio/Brush H.S.) came off of the bench to add 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor, and also pulled down eight caroms.
 
"I thought we got a very good game from CC," McConnell added.  "I was very pleased with her effort."
 
Lourdes shot 34.4% from the floor and made 15-of-24 free throws, despite starting the game 12-for-13 from the charity stripe. 
 
Ashley Sandelin led Michigan-Dearborn (0-7, 0-4 WHAC) with 11 points while Jenna Rogers added 10 more.
 
Lourdes (3-5, 1-3) will step out of conference action on Friday as the Gray Wolves travel to Vienna, W. Va. to face Ohio Valley.  Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. at the Snyder Activity Center.