REC CENTER – Olivet Nazarene University leads the nation in team scoring averaging 100 points per game, nearly 15 more than the second place team in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. And the Lady Peregrines couldn’t hold the Lady Tigers below their average in Saturday’s Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup. Last month, the Lady Peregrines held the Lady Tigers 23 points under its average in a 77-63 loss. But in Saturday’s game, Olivet took 41 three-point attempts and connected 14 times, while the Lady Peregrines could only muster one three-pointer in seven attempts.

The Lady Peregrines (6-21 overall, 1-9 CCAC) kept the score close heading into the lockerroom at the half trailing 48-35, and shot 52 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes. Senior Jessica Hamman (Highland) and junior Linsey Smith (Lake Central) shared the lead in scoring with 10 points each at the break.

But midway in the second half, the Lady Tigers were draining three-pointers, while the Lady Peregrines could only score the two-point field goal variety and the lead stretched to plus-30. The Lady Tigers (16-12, 9-1) hit seven of 16 three-pointers in the second half, a 43 percent success rate.

Smith, the team’s scoring leader at 11.8 per game, led the Lady Peregrines with 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds and had two assists in the loss. Hamman finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

Sophomore forward LaKeisha Hurst (Dover, Del.) also finished with 14 points hitting 53 percent from the field. She also led all rebounders with 11, eight on the defensive side of the glass.

Junior Krystal Rigoni (Portage) was five-of-eight from the field, including a three-pointer, and finished with 11 points and a pair of assists. Junior Shannon Dugan (Mother McAuley) popped in nine points and junior Stephanie Peacock (Rockford Boylan) scored eight points, grabbed six rebounds and dished six assists in the loss.

The Lady Peregrines travel to the Illinois Institute of Technology for a 7 p.m. CCAC game on Tuesday and wrap up the regular season next Saturday, Feb. 24, hosting St. Francis University at 1 p.m.