Lourdes had four players finish in double figures on Saturday afternoon, but a second half rally came up short as the Gray Wolves dropped a 70-61 decision in its first game of 2023 inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
 
Emma Pedroza (Napoleon, Ohio/Napoleon H.S.) scored a team-high 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting while also pulling down seven rebounds and Halle Barnett (Sylvania, Ohio/Southview H.S.) added 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting while grabbing a game-high eight boards.  Nadeen Jemaa (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg H.S.) and Shae Pedroza (Napoleon, Ohio/Napoleon H.S.) each finished in double figures as well with 11 and 10 points respectively.
 
"I was happy with how we competed against Rochester," head coach Tandy Bradford said afterwards.  "We have kids that want to win in this conference.  We handed adjustments we put in for the game well.  We battled back in the second half but just couldn't get the ball to fall at the right time."
 
The Gray Wolves started fast, jumping out to a 21-11 lead seven minutes into the contest behind a trio of three-pointers from Jemaa.  Rochester responded, pulling to within two by the end of the period.  The Warriors scored the first six points of the second quarter to finish a 12-0 run, taking a 27-23 lead two minutes into the quarter.  The Lourdes deficit was just two, 29-27, with less than four minutes to play before intermission before Rochester went on a 14-1 run while building a 43-30 lead at halftime.
 
A 10-2 Lourdes run early in the third allowed the Gray Wolves to cut its deficit to single digits, 48-40, midway through the quarter before Rochester pushed the lead back to 13.  The Warriors opened the fourth increasing the lead to 16, 58-42, before another 10-0 run brought Lourdes to within 58-50 with six minutes to play.  After neither team scored for the next two minutes, Emma Pedroza split a pair of free throws with 3:35 remaining to get within seven, but the Gray Wolves would not get any closer the rest of the way.
 
Lourdes forced 25 Warrior turnovers on the afternoon and grabbed 16 offensive rebounds but were only able to convert them into five second chance points.
 
Jacara Thopmson led Rochester (9-8, 7-2 WHAC) with 16 points and six rebounds while Imari Martin added 12 more.
 
Lourdes (6-11, 3-6) remains home on Wednesday evening to close out the first half of Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference play, entertaining nationally-ranked Indiana Tech.  Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. inside the Ebeid Rec Center.