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| Michelle Hall |
The College of Wooster women's basketball team jumped out to an
early lead and never trailed in its opening match-up in the Nan
Nichols Classic with the University of Pittsburgh-Bradford Saturday
afternoon at Timken Gymnasium. The Fighting Scots dominated the
Panthers 73-42 en route to winning its season opener, while in the
day's first game, Albion College came up with an impressive 82-66
victory over Washington & Jefferson College, setting up a big championship
game on Sunday.
Wooster scored the game's first eight points, opening the game
with a lay-up by sophomore Carly Loehrke on a post-feed by
Michelle Hall in the game's first 10 seconds. Pitt-Bradford
cut the lead to 10-8 at 11:57, but a jumper by junior Natalie
Barone and back-to-back 3-pointers by sophomore Beth Besancon
put the Scots back up by double-digits with just under 10 minutes
to play in the first half. The Scots went up by 15 with 3:30 to
go, but a late surge by the Panthers cut the lead to 12 going into
the second half.
Pitt-Bradford opened the second half with a bucket by Calista
Walker to cut the lead to 10 and after a bucket by Samantha
Groller at 18:35 the deficit was just eight points (34-26),
but that would be the closest the Panthers would get. The Scots
converted on 16-of-37 (.432) shots in the second half and out-rebounded
the Panthers 33-13, including 15 offensive boards. Wooster went
on an 11-0 run following a jump shot by Vicki Meyer at 9:52,
putting the Scots up 65-33 and sealing the victory.
Hall finished off a productive day with a double-double, picking
up 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, and led a quartet of Scot
players in double figures. Barone, Loehrke, and Besancon each added
10 points, while senior Sara Perry dished out a team-high
four assists.
Dani Hamilton led Pitt-Bradford with 12 points on 4-of-10
shooting from the field and 4-of-6 from the line.
In the day's first contest, Albion also jumped out to an early
lead over W&J, scoring the game's first seven points, including
two buckets by Ruth Sventickas. The Presidents' tried to
put the ball in the hands of their All-American, Leigh Sulkowski,
but the Britons were able to contain the junior, limiting her to
just 4-of-12 shooting for 10 points in the first half as Albion
jumped out to a 51-33 half-time lead.
In the second half, Sulkowski led an early charge by scoring five
points in the first four minutes, capped off by a 3-pointer at the
16:00 minute mark, to cut the lead to 53-44. Albion waited out the
surge and reeled off a 12-3 run of its own to put the lead at 65-47
with just under 10 minutes remaining.
Once again, Sulkowski stepped up for the Presidents', making two
steals in a span of 30 seconds, both of which resulted scores. With
just under four to go, Albion's lead stood at just 68-59. But it
was too little, too late for W&J, as Amanda Stanonik fouled
Briton guard Vanessa Thompson, sending her to the line where
she converted on one-of-two to put the lead back up to double digits
and Sarah Caskey nailed all four of her free throws down
the stretch for Albion, putting the Britons up 79-61 and sealing
the Presidents' fate.
Caskey, Albion's leading scorer from a year ago, came up huge at
key moments in the game and finished the day with 23 points on 6-of-11
shooting. In addition, the senior crossed the 1,000-point plateau
for her career early in the second half and contributed eight rebounds
and a team-high six assists. Sventickas converted on 11-of-16 shots
for a team-high 25 points, while Liz Marcus chipped in with
eight rebounds and eight points.
Sulkowksi finished the day with 19 points on 7-of-20 shooting,
but just 1-of-11 from beyond the arc. She added seven rebounds,
four steals, and two blocks as well. Jen Rogers converted
on half of her shots for 11 points, while Maria Hillenbrand
came off the bench to post 10 points and seven rebounds for the
Presidents.
Wooster and Albion will square off in the championship game of
the Nan Nichols Class 30-minutes after the preceding consolation
game between W&J and Pitt-Bradford.
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