Down 15 almost halfway through the third quarter, Berry stormed back to defeat St. Mary's (Ind.) 61-53 Tuesday afternoon at the Music City Classic in Gallatin, Tenn., behind 14 second half points from Elizabeth Sierzant.

A shooting foul drawn by Sierzant started a 9-0 run for the Vikings that pulled BC within six, 43-37, with 3:56 to go. Sydney Blankenship added five points during the Berry spurt.

The Belles would forge an eight-point lead again, 48-40, but a Sierzant basket and a triple from the hands of Blankenship gave Berry five points in a row to pull within three, 48-45, before the end of the frame.

The Vikings (8-4) were slow to get going in the fourth, but the Vikings limited the Belles to just a field goal in the early phase of the period. Sarah Wright would drain a 3-pointer, then Blankenship hit from beyond-the-arc a minute later to stake Berry to its first lead, 51-50. Sierzant would drop another 3-ball to get the lead up to four, 54-50, before a shot from deep by SMC made it 54-53 with 2:09 left.

That would prove to be the final basket the Belles would score. Blankenship would get the lead back to three with a lay-up, then a charge on the other end gave the Vikings another defensive stop. Berry got another defensive stop that came on Ellie Gearing's sixth rebound of the game with with 47 seconds left and Berry would make enough free-throws to get the eight-point win.

Blankenship scored a team-high 20 points, with Sierzant adding 16. Kenadie Lee had eight points and a team-leading four assists.

Julia Schutz scored 23 to lead SMC (4-9) but only had six points in the second half. As a team, the Belles were limited to just 18 points over the final 20 minutes.

Berry will be idle until Jan. 6, 2023 when they return to Southern Athletic Association play at Millsaps. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. CST.