St. Mary's City, Md. – Three Seahawks scored in double figures to lead the St. Mary's College of Maryland women's basketball team to a series split with Southern Virginia University Saturday afternoon. The Seahawks (6-12, 4-7 CAC) took over in the third quarter and held on for a 75-69 Capital Athletic Conference victory over Southern Virginia (3-14, 2-9 CAC).

St. Mary's received several bests in marching towards its fourth conference win of the season and sole possession of sixth place in the league standings with seven games left to play.

Junior center Nina Haller (Chevy Chase, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase) tallied a season-best 20 points plus eight rebounds, and four blocks. Not to be outdone, sophomore captain Kerri Kline (Hagerstown, Md./Saint James) notched 20 points as well and added a season-high seven boards.

Sophomore captain Olivia Nowlin (Glenelg, Md./Glenelg) put together a fantastic stat line with 17 points and career-bests of eight assists and six caroms along with six steals.

The Seahawks controlled the tempo at the beginning and end of the first half. The home team opened up with a 9-0 run behind the play of Nowlin (5 pts.) and Kline before closing the final minutes of the second quarter on an 11-0 stretch. Four different players netted points in the run as St. Mary's erased a three-point deficit and rode a 38-30 halftime advantage into the locker room.

Kline paced the Seahawks at intermission with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting while Haller chipped in 10. The duo plus sophomore guard Christine Morin (Kensington, Md./St. John's [D.C.]) led the team on the boards with four rebounds apiece. First-year guard Merideth Ouellette (Suffield, Conn./Suffield) was the leading scorer for Southern Virginia with a first-half high of 16 points on four triples.

St. Mary's really capitalized on the Knights' 17 first-half miscues, turning them into 23 points. However, Southern Virginia hung around by winning the rebounding battle, 27-21.

Kline fired up a three-pointer to begin the third, giving the Seahawks their biggest lead of the game, 41-30. Southern Virginia worked the next seven minutes to reclaim a 52-51 advantage on a layup by senior forward Larissa Macfarlane (Hillrose, Colo./Merino), capping a 22-10 run by the Knights. Nowlin scored six of the team's last eight points of the period to regain the lead, heading into the fourth up 59-52.

After finishing the first half with just one rebound, first-year forward Kobe Chaney (Annapolis, Md./South River) came alive in the final quarter. Chaney posted up for quarter-highs of six points and five rebounds as she had half of the team's points and four boards in St. Mary's opening 12-9 run to establish a 10-point lead with under four minutes left.

Ouellette poured in a game-high 26 points to lead the Knights as she finished 9-of-18 from the floor with six three-pointers while first-year Kimberly Eads (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) hauled in nine rebounds.

The Seahawks will carry this momentum into their rescheduled matchup at Marymount (Va.) University (15-3, 10-1 CAC) on Monday, February 1st in Arlington, Virginia at 6:00 p.m. Marymount posted a 52-35 road win over the Seahawks in their first meeting on December 30. 

Facebook: StMarysAthletics

Twitter: @smcseahawks, @SMCMwbball, #HawksFlyTogether

Instagram: @smcseahawks