Christian's 'Three' puts Devils over the Top

Colleen Christian scored all 11 of her points in the second half including a big three-pointer field goal with 1:38 that gave the Devils the lead for good as the University of the Sciences women's basketball team hung on to defeat Kutztown University 64-62 Saturday afternoon at the Bobby Morgan Arena in Philadelphia. 

Sciences improve to 3-2 with their second straight win.  Kutztown falls to 4-2. 

Christian was 3-3 from the field and 4-5 from the line in the second half enroute to her 11-point performance.  She finished the game shooting 3-5 (1-1 3FG) from the field.   Caitlin Shaw led the Devils with 19 points (11-14 FT).  Marissa Chesnavich added 12 points (6-11 FG) and nine rebounds.  Melissa Rotz paced Sciences with four assists and two steals. 

Melissa McQuade led four players in double figures for the Golden Bears, knocking sdown 17 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.  Andrea Sisson came off the bench to score 13 points while Ashley Wood and Kristen Murray added 11 and 10 respectively

It was a 21-6 run by the Devils in the opening half that turned a four point deficit their largest lead of the game, 11 points with 2:31 left in the half.  Rotz started the turnaround with two straight three-point field goals to give the Devils the lead 14-12.  After a Mcquade layup tied the score, Shaw scored six straight points and Becca Ruggear added a layup before the Golden Bears put another point on the board.   Sciences still led by 11 before Sisson nailed a 'trey' with 24 seconds left in the period, giving the Devils a 31-23 lead at the break. 

Kutztown slowly chipped away at the Devils lead in the second half, outscoring the home team 15-8 in the first seven minutes to pull within one 39-38. USciences'  still led by one 41-40 when they put together and 8-3 spurt to go back up by six 49-43 with 7:36 left.  Again the golden Bears cut the lead to one, 50-49 and later 55-54 with 3:24 left before a McQuade layup gave Kutztown their first lead since the 11:07 mark of the opening half, 56-55.  

The lead lasted all of 58 seconds before Christian put the spark back in the Devils offense with her '3-ball'  just off the top of the key to the right to give the Devils a 59-58 lead with 1:38 left.  Colleen added a free throw with 47 second left to boost the margin to two 60-58.  Alyssa Hamm then went 1-for-2 from the line to make the score 61-58.  Two free throws from McQuade brought the Golden Bears back within one, by Christian quickly put the Devils lead back to three with two free throws of her own, 63-60 with 23 seconds left.  Shaw connected on one of two free throws to account for the Devils final point while McQuade sank two free throws with 0.2 left on the clock to make the final score 64-62. 

The Devils had one fewer field goal (21-200 than the golden Bears but had a better shooting percentage (43.5% to 37.5%).  Sciences doubled up Kutztown with four three-pointers to their two and held a slight advantage on the charity stripe hitting 20 of 29 to KU's 18 of 24.   KU outrebounded the devils 36-34 and had two fewer turnovers (16-18). 

The women's basketball team will open conference play on Tuesday, December 7, 2010 when they travel to Georgian Court University to take on the Lions in Lakewood, New Jersey.  Tip off is set for 6:00 p.m.