Lourdes saw its three-game winning streak come to an end on Wednesday afternoon, dropping its Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference opener at Aquinas 56-37 inside the Sturrus Sports & Fitness Center in Grand Rapids, Mich.
 
"They are a good team that executed today," head coach Tandy Bradford said afterwards.  "We will have better shooting days than we did today.  I am really happy with where we were defensively and we stayed even with them in rebounding.  They are a big team so that says something about our effort."
 
Both teams got off to a slow start offensively, with the Gray Wolves holding a 6-2 edge midway through the opening period.  Aquinas scored the next seven points to pull in front, a lead they would maintain the remainder of the afternoon.
 
The Saints held a 15-11 leads after one quarter and scored seven of the first 10 points of the second, building a 22-14 advantage with three minutes to play before intermission.  The lead grew to as many as 10, 27-17, before Lourdes scored the final five points of the stanza to pull within five at halftime.
 
Both teams shot less than 30% in the opening 20 minutes, with Lourdes committing 11 turnovers while the Saints had just four miscues.
 
Aquinas scored the first 16 points out of the locker room, holding the Gray Wolves scoreless until the 1:09 mark of the third when Logan Ingram (Mount Pleasant, Mich./Mount Pleasant H.S.) knocked down a three-pointer to make it 43-25 Saints, a score that would carry into the fourth.
 
Gabby Stover (Lexington, Ohio/Lexington H.S.) scored the first basket of the fourth to close the gap to 16, but that would be as close as the Gray Wolves would get the remainder of the game. 
 
Stover led Lourdes with 12 points while Mercedes Wagner (Sherwood, Ohio/Fairview H.S.) added eight points and 14 rebounds.  The Gray Wolves finished the game shooting just 21% from the floor, including just 2-of-17 (11.8%) from three-point range.
 
Marissa Brady tallied a double-double for Aquinas (3-2, 1-0 WHAC), scoring a game-high 23 points while pulling down 14 rebounds.  The Saints finished the game shooting 30.9% from the field.
 
Lourdes (3-3, 0-1) will have a week off before returning to the hardwood next Wednesday (Nov. 17), as the Gray Wolves travel to Fort Wayne, Ind. to battle nationally-ranked Indiana Tech.  Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. inside the Schaefer Center.