Moraga, CA—The Niagara Women's Basketball team fell to Saint Mary's College (CA) in the opening day of the of the Thanksgiving Classic hosted by Saint Mary's. Despite 19 points from Aaliyah Parker, the Purple Eagles fell 73-59.
Game Recap
First Quarter

• Both teams came out firing as the two teams combined for 37 points with Saint Mary's having the 22-15 lead.
• Parker shot 3-4 in the first quarter and led Niagara with six points. Lexie Roe and Nickelle O'Neil had three points each while Jade Rutledge and Sydney Faulcon also scored in the frame.
• Niagara forced two steals to open the game with Parker and O'Neil each recording one.

Second Quarter

• Scoring in the second quarter was down compared to the first as the teams scored 29 points. Niagara scored 13 compared to 16 from Saint Mary's.
• After scoring three in the first quarter, Roe led all scorers in the second as she went 3-3 from the field including two three's to have eight points in the quarter.
• Parker scored three points while Marlie Dickerson had two, she also made her first career start on Friday.
• Niagara went into the halftime break trailing 38-28.

Third Quarter

• The teams once again saw scoring decline as both teams notched 14 points in the third quarter.
• Parker once again started to heat up as she had six points in the quarter on 3-5 shooting. Maddy Yelle went 2-3 from the field which included a three as she had five points in the frame.
• The Niagara defense started to gain some traction as they had three steals and forced six Gael turnovers.
• The Purple Eagles also had the best scoring run of the third as they scored five straight points at the 5:20 mark.

Fourth Quarter

• Saint Mary's put the game away in the fourth quarter as they outscored Niagara 21-17 to win 73-59 over the Purple Eagles.
• Five different Purple Eagles had multiple points in the fourth as Rutledge, Parker, and Yelle all had four points.
• Niagara once again had three steals in the frame while Saint Mary's turned the ball over six times.

Niagara Notes

• Parker once again led the Purple Eagles in scoring with 19, she now has more than 15 points in every game this season. She is leading the MAAC in scoring as she is averaging 17.6 points per game.
• Nine Purple Eagles saw playing time while seven of them recorded points.
• Niagara came down with 25 boards, six of which were offensive boards. Parker and Yelle both had four. Parker is second in the MAAC in total rebounds as she averages 8.4 a game. Yelle averages three a game and she tied her season high with four.
• Roe scored 11 points off the bench which matches her total from last season. In three games this season she is averaging over five points a game off the bench. She played 16 minutes on Friday which is a new career high.

Up Next

• Niagara closes out the week long road trip by taking on Maine tomorrow afternoon with tipoff scheduled for 3:00 PM EST.