 |  |
A Tale of Two Halves as Devils Rally to Defeat Lightning
It was a tale of two halves in Thursday night's women's basketball game between host University of the Sciences and Goldey-Beacom College with the Devils doing nothing right in the first half but the switch was turned on and they could do no wrong in the final 20 minutes, rallying from a nine-point halftime deficit to defeat the Lightning 60-48 at the Bobby Morgan Arena.
The win improves the Devils record to 15-4 overall and 11-2 in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference games. It was also Sciences' ninth consecutive win of the season, the most since the team won a school record ten straight during the 1992-93 season.
A trio of players led the team effort during the second half comeback with Alyssa Hamm (Academy Park HS/Sharon Hill, Pa.) scoring 14 points in the period to finish the game with 18. Caitlin Shaw (Monmouth Regional HS/Eatontown, N.J.) rebounded from a 1-7 first half shooting effort by making all five shots she took in the second half to finish the game with 13 points. Shaw also grabbed nine rebounds in the second half to go along with her 10 first half boards, giving the senior forward a career high 19 caroms in the contest. Colleen Christian(Central Bucks South HS/Warrington, Pa.) scored all ten of her points in the second half (3-4 FG, 4-4 FT) also offsetting a poor shooting effort in the opening 20 minutes. Melissa Rotz (Central Dauphin HS/Harrisburg, Pa.) had a game high four assists- all in the second half. Marissa Chesnavich (Bishop O'Reilly HS/Pittston, Pa.) and Becca Ruggear (Oxford Area HS/Oxford, Pa.) added six rebounds apiece
Irene Hudson had 15 points for the Lightning while Devonne Richardson had 10. Arielle Alford grabbed 12 rebounds while Jacinda Jones had a game high five steals.
In the opening period the Devils missed 11 of their first 12 shots in the first seven minutes as the Lightning jumped out to a 10-2 lead. Sciences cut the lead to five 15-10 with 8:43 left before the Lightning built their lead to 11 with six straight points to lead 21-10 with 4:20 left. A layup from Sarah Hickman (Wilmington Christian School/Newark, Del.) and a 3-ball from Hamm cut the lead to six but the Lighting scored the final three points of the half to take a nine point lead, 24-15 into the locker room at the break. Shooting-wise the Devils made just six of 35 shots (17.1%), while Goldey Beacom made 9 of 20 (45%).
The second half saw a complete turnaround as the Devils opened the period with a 9-0 run to tie the game at 24-24. A layup from Hudson at the 12:49 mark broke the run and gave the Lightning their first points of the period. Two baskets from Christian and layups from Hamm and Ruggear completed an 8-0 spurt and gave the Devils a six-point lead 32-26 with 10:35 left. The lead floated between four and six points over the next three minutes until a hard foul by Akilah Sewell to the head of Ruggear knocked her to the floor and temporarily out of the game. Carolyn Edwards (St. Basil's Academy/Huntington Valley, Pa.) came in and sank two free throws to boost the lead to eight, 40-32. A 5-02 mini-run by the Lightning cut the deficit to five 42-37 with 6:12 left before the Devils went on a 7-0 tear to lead by 12, 49-37 with 4:11 left. Weldon's layup with 2:03 left closed the gap to nine, 52-43 but that was as close as the Lightning would get. Rotz then struck the Lightning with a dagger- a three point field goal from the right side that kissed off the glass and in at the 1:34 mark and the lead remained in double digits the rest of the way.
The Devils connected on 15 of 24 shots in the second half (62.5%) to finish the game shooting 35.6%. The Lightning made just 10 of 39 shots (25.6%) in the final 20 minutes and finished shooting 32.2%. Sciences was better from the foul line (13-21 to 8-16) and from downtown (5-14 to 2-10) and had better control of the ball with just 15 turnovers (14 assists). The Lightning had 21 turnovers (5 assists). GBC had a slight edge on the glass 44-43.
The Devils are back in action on Saturday, February 5, 2011 when they host Concordia College in a CACC crossover match at the Bobby Morgan arena. Tipoff is set for 1:00 p.m.
