Over the past week, Saint Mary’s basketball and Holy Cross men’s and women’s basketball teams were in action. Saint Mary’s finished its week 0-2 with a loss to Calvin and Kalamazoo, the Holy Cross men’s basketball team went 0-2, and the Holy Cross women’s team earned two wins.
Saint Mary’s
With the two losses, the Belles fall to 7-14 overall in conference and 2-10 in conference. The team now prepares to host Trine on Feb. 11 with tipoff set for 7 p.m.
Calvin
In their first game of the week, Saint Mary’s played at Calvin and got dropped for a 74-41 loss, its offense seemingly the cause of its defeat, especially with a lack of three-point shots. Despite out-shooting Calvin, Saint Mary’s was unable to find the rim, costing them the loss. Calvin, on the other hand, came out aggressive and capitalized on the Belles’ turnovers.
Sophomore guard Ella Notaro led the team on the court with 11 points, followed by freshman guard Liv Fry with seven points and sophomore guard Elle Andree with six. Fry and Passinault finished the game recording team-highs of six rebounds each.
Calvin came out strong in the first quarter, finishing with an 18-6 lead. Saint Mary’s struggled, only being able to shoot 20% from the field goal line in comparison to Calvin’s 40%. Calvin kept on rolling in the second quarter, drawing a 34-16 lead as they shot 35% from the field. Saint Mary’s defense was able to stop them from the three-point line, only allowing them to put in a single three-pointer. The Belles, on the other hand, went 25% from the field goal and 33% from the arc.
Saint Mary’s seemed to show a stronger side of themselves after the half as they went 40% from the field in comparison to Calvin, who went 29.4%. Despite this, Calvin finished the third quarter leading 55-30. While the fourth quarter looked aggressive from both teams, the Saint Mary’s offense continued to struggle, going 0-4 from beyond the arc.
Kalamazoo
In an intense matchup and one that was definitely worth watching, the Belles’ second game of the week was against Kalamazoo. While it was a tough battle, the Belles fell short and took the 58-53 loss.
Overall, Andree and senior forward Hannah Outlaw led the team on the court, each putting up 11 points for themselves, while Notaro finished her game with nine and junior guard Kate Restovich added on seven. While both teams traded points back and forth throughout the entirety of the game, Belles’ struggle in the fourth quarter ultimately gave Kalamazoo the final win.
Holy Cross men’s basketball
The Holy Cross men’s basketball team fell to 9-15 overall and 4-12 in conference play after suffering two losses, the first to Saint Xavier (95-81) and the second to Olivet Nazarene (90-67).
Saint Xavier
On Feb. 4, 2026, the Saints faced off against Saint Xavier but fell short. Overall, some of the game leaders for the Saints included junior guard Donovan Mukes, who led the team with a high total of 21 points, going 7-11 from the field; freshman guard Donovan Waleskowski added on 18 points; junior forward Jayden Sanders tallied 16 points and sophomore forward Karl Birgisson added on five. In addition to leading the offense, Mukes also added three rebounds and three steals, and alongside him was Sanders, who had five rebounds and two steals. Birgisson was a key player on defense for the Saints, leading the team with a team-high of eight rebounds.
Overall, the Saints were 28 for 57 from the field (49.1%), totaled 36 rebounds, 17 assists, 12 turnovers and went nine for 17 from beyond the arc. In comparison to this, Saint Xavier went 34 for 66 in the field goal, 14 for 26 from beyond the arc, 34 rebounds, 17 assists and seven turnovers. While the Saints’ defense was strong, it was their offense that seemed to cost them, as they did not take as many chances in the paint as Saint Xavier did. Another cost was not capitalizing on the free throw line, as they only went 16 for 26 while Saint Xavier went 13-15.
Olivet Nazarene
In their second game of the week, the Saints fell to Olivet Nazarene. While the Saints’ defense continued to be strong, forcing 11 turnovers against Olivet Nazarene and 32 rebounds, the shots could not seem to fall for Holy Cross despite attacking harder offensively. The Saints finished the night going 27-70 from the field and only 7-24 on three-pointers. On the other end of the court, Olivet Nazarene seemed to show equal offensive struggle, going 36-68 in field goals and 9-25 from the three-point line. A big offensive difference that contributed was, again, free throws. Holy Cross finished going 6-9 at the charity stripe while Olivet Nazarene finished going 9-10. Olivet Nazarene also capitalized on the Holy Cross offensive struggle as they finished the game with 46 rebounds.
Holy Cross women’s basketball
The Holy Cross women’s basketball team also competed in two games over the past week and was the only team to find success with a 79-52 win over Calumet and a dominant 103-45 win over Mount Mary. The team now rises to 15-10 overall and 11-6 in conference play.
Calumet
On Feb. 7, Holy Cross faced off against Calumet and took a swift win. The offensive drive from the Saints would prove to be the reason for the win as multiple players throughout the game contributed.
Sophomore Allie Caldwell led the Saints on the court with 18 points and six rebounds. Sophomore forward Kaiden Hanley added on 15 points and eight rebounds, freshman forward Sincere Coleman-Francis finished her game with 14 points, eight rebounds and three steals and senior guard Audrey Tallent, while only having six points, contributed four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Junior center Brock Bittermann came off the bench and contributed 11 points, eight rebounds and a single steal. As a team, Holy Cross’ offense struggled a bit as they went 32-72 from the field and went 3-16 from beyond the arc, but their defense made up for this as they controlled the glass with 46 rebounds.
Mount Mary
The Saints’ second game of the past week, played on Feb. 7, was against Mount Mary and was certainly a dominant win for the Saints. Caldwell once again led the team on the court with 29 points, Hanley had 23 points, Bittermann came off the bench, putting up 12 points alongside freshman forward Malea Steele, who added on 12 points and seven rebounds for herself. As a team, the team continued to control the glass just as it did in their previous game with a total of 55 rebounds, went 10-11 from the free throw line, only allowed eight turnovers and went 11-34 from deep.
