PERU, Neb. – Turnovers cost the College of Saint Mary basketball team in a nonconference contest at Peru State College Saturday evening. The Bobcats defeated CSM 84-46.

The Flames committed 35 turnovers in the game and Peru State converted that to 47 points off the CSM miscues.

The home team jumped out to a 21-7 start in the opening quarter and then outscored CSM 20-11 in the second frame to lead 41-18 at the intermission. Peru State bested the Flames 25-11 in the third quarter and 18-17 in the final frame to secure the win.

"We got off to another really slow start," CSM Coach Kirk Walker said. "We had great shot opportunities early and didn't convert and they converted on their opportunities. Unfortunately, we didn't do a great job of handling the pressure that they applied and had too many turnovers – especially live ball turnovers.

"We need to find a way to play with more urgency and physicality if we want to compete."

Tia Murray led the Flames with a career-high 23 points and a team-high five rebounds. Teammate ShyAnne Mayhue canned 11 points and no other CSM player scored more than four.

"It was good to get ShyAnne Mayhue back on the court," Walker said. "I felt once she settled in that she gave us good minutes in the time she was able to play. And Tia really responded in the second half."

The Flames shot 44 percent from the floor, 17 percent from 3-point range and 60 percent from the free-throw line. The Bobcats were 50 percent from the floor, 40 percent from long distance and 50 percent from the charity stripe.

The Flames are now 1-2 on the season, while Peru State improves to 2-0.

College of Saint Mary resumes competition Wednesday when the Flames play an exhibition game at the University of Nebraska Omaha at 7 p.m. CSM then plays another exhibition game vs. Chadron State on the road Friday at 6 p.m.

"We have two exhibition games next week and we can use those to really work on those things that we have to improve on," Walker said.