OMAHA, Neb. – College of Saint Mary Basketball Coach Kirk Walker said he saw some good things from his team Wednesday night despite a loss.

Northwestern College defeated the Flames 77-47 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference opener for both teams. The Raiders are now 4-1 on the season, while CSM drops to 1-3.

"Overall, we did some really good things," Walker said. "The things we didn't execute are fixable for the most part. We played a good first half and things just got away from us in the third quarter."

The Raiders were up 22-12 after the opening quarter, but CSM outscored Northwestern 12-11 in the second quarter to trail 33-24 at the intermission. Northwestern bested the Flames 18-12 in the third quarter and 26-11 in the final frame.

"We have to improve our one-on-one defense moving forward because they just broke us down and put us in scramble mode over and over in the second half," Walker said. "Our keys to the game were limiting turnovers, boxing out, rebounding and playing physical. I felt we were good enough on the defensive end physically for most of the game, but we didn't get the job done in taking care of the ball or keeping them off the boards."

The Flames shot 33 percent from the floor, 27 percent from 3-point range and 67 percent from the charity stripe. Northwestern shot 41 percent on the night, 30 percent from long distance and 75 percent from the free-throw line.

Molly Schany led all scorers with 18 points for the Raiders.

Tia Murray was CSM's top scorer with 10 points. Teammates Chainey Thompson and ShyAnne Mayhue both added nine and Madison Camden chipped in with seven. Murray had a game-high nine rebounds and three steals.

"Chainey Thompson played a solid game for us and is shooting the ball well," Walker said. "As we move forward we have to finish better, take care of the ball and be more physical on the glass if we want to compete on a consistent basis."

The Flames return to action Saturday at Briar Cliff University for a 2 p.m. contest.