Christian Has Career High as Devils Win Seventh Straight

Colleen Christian scored a career-high 25 points as the Devils rallied from a five point deficit late in the second half to defeat Dominican College, 70-61 Saturday afternoon in Orangeburg, New York. 

The win, the Devils seventh straight improves their record to 13-4 overall and 9-2 in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference games.  Dominican falls to 6-11 overall and 4-6 in league play. 

Christian's (Central Bucks South HS/Warrington, Pa.) 25 points came on a career-best six three-point field goals (eight overall) and a perfect 3-3 from the free throw line.  Christian's effort was one of several solid performances by the Devils team who stepped it up in the absence of their leading scorer Caitlin Shaw (Monmouth Regional HS/Eatontown, N.J.) who was sitting this one out due to illness.  Alyssa Hamm (Academy Park HS/Sharon Hill, Pa.) added 16 points (5-10 FG, 4-7 3FG)  while Becca Ruggear (Oxford Area HS/Oxford, Pa.) came off the bench to record a double-double with 12 points (6-10 FG) and 10 rebounds.   Melissa Rotz (Central Dauphin HS/Harrisburg, Pa.) turned in another solid effort at the point, dishing out seven assists while committing just one turnover. For Rotz, today's game was the third time in the past four games that she has recorded seven or more assists. 

Lindsey Lopez and Marley Klunk were the only two players in double figures for theChargers, scoring 10 point apiece.  KC Jentzen led the team with seven rebounds while Lopez had a team-high four assists. 

The Chargers ran off seven straight points over a five minute stretch in the second part of the final period to turn a two point deficit into a five point lead 54-49 with just 6:43 left.  Ruggear followed with a layup at the 6:16 mark, starting what would be a 13-2 run to give the Devisl the lead for good as the game was winding down.  Christian followed with the first of her three second half three-pointers a minute later and the game was tied at 54-all. Lopez put the Chargers back up by two 56-54 but Christian nailed two straight three-pointers, the latter from at least a foot behind the men's line, to give Sciences a 60-56 lead with 2:53 left.   Ruggear closed the run the way she started it with layup and the Devils had a six point bulge 62-56 with 1:33 left. 

Christian wasn't finished however.  After Jentzen 's layup brought the Chargers back within four, 62-58, the senior guard drove for a layup, was fouled and completed the three-point play to make the score 65-58 with 46 seconds left.  Colleen added two more free throws as the Devils outscored the Chargers 5-1 at the charity stripe in the final 30 seconds to pull away with a nine point win, 70-61. The two runs by the Devils amounted to a 21-7 effort over the final 6:43, with Christian scored 14 of those 21 points.   

The five point second half deficit was the second hole the Devils had to dig themselves out as the Chargers built an eight point lead 24-16 through the first 12½ minutes of the game, making eight of their first 11 shots of the game.  Sciences clawed back to cut the gap to two at the break 37-35  and then took the lead 39-37 on Hamm's three-pointer in the opening minute of  the final period. Neither team pulled away until the Chargers opened their five point lead and the Devils responded with their big scoring burst in the final minutes.

The solid shooting start by the hosts, led to a 68% effort in the first half (17-25).  The Chargers cooled down a bit in the second half, shooting just 9-for-26 (34.6%) to finish the game shooting 26-51 (51%).  The Devils shot just 41.1% (23-56) for the game but countered the strong shooting effort by tying a school record with ten three-point field goals (10-22, 45.5%) and shooting 14-22 (63.6%) from the free throw line compared to DC's 5-9 (55.6%).  The Chargers held a 37-28 advantage on the glass but committed 19 turnovers (14 assists).   The Devils, meanwhile had a season low 11 turnovers in the contest (19 assists). 

The women's basketball team returns to action on Tuesday, February 1, 2011 when they travel  crosstown to take on Chestnut Hill College in a CACC southern division clash.  Tipoff is set for 6:00 p.m.