JOLIET, Ill. – The University of St. Francis saved its best game against Purdue University Calumet this season for last. The Lady Saints (18-13) shot nearly 50 percent in the second half and cruised to a 77-50 win in the opening round of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament.For the Lady Peregrines (6-24), it ended the 2006-07 campaign and the collegiate career of senior co-captain Jessica Hamman (Highland) who finished with a season high 20 points, including a 3-pointer, and 14 rebounds. Hamman ranks eighth in the CCAC averaging 7.4 rebounds per game and is averaging 12.6 points per game.

The Lady Peregrines trailed 13-12 after Hamman scored in the paint with 13 minutes to play in the opening half. But during the next six minutes, the Lady Saints went on a 13-4 run for a 10-point lead. U.S.F. shot at a 42 percent clip in the opening half and led 41-25 at the break.

The first eight minutes of the second half were brutal for the Lady Peregrine fans. While the Lady Saints were 11 of 19 (57 percent) from the field, good for 22 points, the Lady Peregrines couldn’t find the bottom of the net connecting on only 2-of-10 from the field good for five points.

During that eight minute stretch, the Lady Peregrines also had difficulty controlling the ball losing it nine times accounting for 14 Lady Saint points. With 11:54 to play, the Lady Saints had a commanding 63-30 lead.

Junior guard Linsey Smith (Lake Central) was the only other Lady Peregrine to crack the double digit mark. She finished with 16 points, grabbed six rebounds and had a pair of steals in the loss. Smith averaged 12.9 points per game in the CCAC, three-tenths of a point ahead of teammate Hamman.

A combination of poor field goal shooting percentage for the Lady Peregrines, 28 percent for the game, and a high turnover rate, 27 in the game, was a mixture that could only lead to a season-ending loss. The Lady Peregrines won the rebounding battle, 45-41, largely behind Hamman’s 14, but also got help from freshman Sara Keilman (Morton) who grabbed her season high nine.

PUC women open the 2007-08 season at home in the four-team Lady Peregrine Classic on Friday, Nov. 2. Participants include Calumet College of St. Joseph, the University of St. Francis and Illinois Institute of Technology.