The Lourdes women's basketball team fell 70-54 at NCAA Division III-foe Olivet on Thursday evening at the Cutler Event Center.
 
"Tonight obviously wasn't the result we were looking for," said head coach John Kenger. "We still have a long ways to go and have a lot of work we can do. This is a great group of young ladies and we're still in the early stages of this season. If we keep working hard we can build something great here."
 
The Gray Wolves jumped out to a fast start behind layups from Hunter Kershaw (Columbus, Ohio/Westland) and Jami Hardy (Perrysburg, Ohio/Cardinal Stritch) and a three pointer from Ramiah Henry (Toledo, Ohio/Waite) to give Lourdes an early 7-2 advantage in the first quarter.
 
Olivet (2-1) would respond with a 13-2 run to take a 15-9 lead with 4:19 left in the first quarter. After the Comets pushed their lead to 18-11, Lourdes closed the quarter on a 4-0 run, capped by a layup from Keyvona Davis (Columbus, Ohio/South) to cut the gap to 18-15 after one quarter.
 
Olivet took command of the contest in the second quarter, outscoring the visiting Gray Wolves 16-5 to take a 34-20 lead into the intermission.
 
The Comets saw their lead blossom to as many as 26 points in the third quarter after outscoring Lourdes 21-13 to take a 55-33 lead into the final stanza.
 
Lourdes was able to fight back late and cut into Olivet's lead. Sara Semler (Toledo, Ohio/Whitmer) scored eight points to fuel an 11-2 run for Lourdes top open the fourth quarter and cut the Comet lead to 57-44.
 
The Gray Wolves were unable to complete their comeback bid as Olivet went on to claim the 70-54 victory.
 
Semler paced the Gray Wolf offense with 13 points. Davis pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds, while Beasley added 10 boards for Lourdes.
 
Bianca Osas-Maxwell led the way for Olivet with 15 points.
 
Lourdes was 17-of-67 (25.4%) from the field, while Olivet shot 26-of-69 (37.7%) from the field. Lourdes edged Olivet 53-43 in the rebounding battle.
 
The Gray Wolves (2-3) return to action and open Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference play on Saturday at 1 p.m. as they travel to Livonia, Mich. to take on Madonna.