INDIANAPOLIS – The University of Indianapolis women's basketball team stepped on to the hardwood for the first time in 2016 on Thursday night, hosting Maryville University in a GLVC showdown.
 
The Greyhounds battled back from a 14-point deficit late in the first half to take the lead midway through the third quarter. But a late third quarter Maryville run proved to be too much for UIndy to overcome in an 82-74 defeat.
 
Sophomore Sarah Costello had a career night against the Saints, matching her career high with 19 points and yanking down a new personal best 13 rebounds for her first career double-double. Nicole Anderson finished with her third straight double-double, pouring in 13 points and pulling in a new career best 16 rebounds.
 
Princess German had 21 for the Hounds and Devin Ferguson matched her personal best with nine points for UIndy, who fell to 2-11 overall and 0-3 in GLVC play.
 
Ali Ringering had a game-high 24 points for Maryville and was joined by Alex Wolf (16 pts), Stephanie Sherwood (15 pts) and Alex Hillyer (13 pts) in double figures as the Saints improved to 8-3 overall and an even 2-2 in conference play.
 
"There were some times we got scored on a little too easy and we got in some foul trouble early and both proved costly," Head coach Constantin Popa said. "We did a lot of good things tonight to get back into the game and our offense came along in the second half. But there were some times we weren't able to make adjustments to what they were doing at both ends of the floor and how the game was being called."
 
The Saints took advantage of their size down low right out of the gate, opening the game on a 10-2 run and forcing UIndy starters Princess German and Ashley Montanez out of the game with foul trouble. The Hounds were able to close the gap before the end of the first quarter but trailed 21-15 after 10 minutes.
 
Maryville knocked down all eight of their free throws in the opening frame while the Hounds held a 13-7 edge on the boards, grabbing seven offensive boards.
 
The Saints caught fire to open the second quarter, outscoring the Greyhounds 13-5 over the first 5:37 of the frame to open up a 34-20 lead. With the game on the verge of slipping away, the Greyhounds battled back in impressive fashion with a 14-3 run to close out the quarter and trail 37-34 at the break.
 
UIndy stayed hot to open the second half, taking their first lead of the game when Costello connected on one of her three triples to make it 42-41 at the 7:48 mark. The two teams traded the lead seven times before the end of the third, but a pair of deep threes from Ringering capped an 8-2 run to end the quarter and give Maryville a 55-50 lead.
 
Looking to rally one more time, the Greyhounds cut the Maryville lead to 66-65 with 3:20 to go after another Costello long ball. But the Saints answered with a Hillyer layup and another Ringering triple on their next two possessions to stretch their lead to six. UIndy was unable to answer before Maryville closed out the game at the free throw line.
 
The Hounds connected on 42.2 percent (27-for-64) of their field goals on the night, going 7 of 21 from long range and 13 of 18 at the line. Maryville shot 43.5 percent (27-for-62) on the night, hitting 6 of 11 threes and 22 of 29 free throw tries.
 
Rebounds were 41-37 in favor of the Greyhounds with UIndy grabbing a season-high 15 offensive boards that turned into 16 second chance points. Turnovers were 15-9 in favor of Maryville, who also held a 22-11 advantage in points off turnovers.
 
The Greyhounds wrap up 2016's opening weekend of conference play on Saturday afternoon when they welcome the Tritons of Missouri-St. Louis to Nicoson Hall. Tip-off is set for 1:00 p.m.