Hamm's Career High 25 Leads Devils to Win over Eagles

Alyssa Hamm scored a career high 25 points and Caitlin Shaw added 22 as the University of the Sciences women's basketball team closed out the regular season with a 75-65 win over Post University in Waterbury, Connecticut. 

The Devils improve to 21-5 overall and 16-3 in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference games.   Post ends their season withy an 8-18 record and a 6-13 conference mark. 

Hamm (Academy Park HS/Sharon Hill, Pa.) shot seven of 14 shots from the field including a 5-9 effort from three point range and a 6-9 effort from the free throw line enroute to her career high 25 points. Alyssa also added a team-high six rebounds and had two assists and two steals.   Shaw (Monmouth Regional HS/Eatontown, Pa.) had nine field goals (22 points and also had six rebounds.   Becca Ruggear (Oxford Area HS/Oxford, Pa.) came off the bench to score 10 points and pulled down six boards as well.  Melissa Rotz (Central Dauphin HS/Harrisburg, Pa.) led all players with six assists (no turnovers). 

The Eagles were led by Monique Chance's 16 points.  Kelli Reynolds and Casey Brooks added 12 apiece while Raven Wright-James chipped in 10.   Elizabeth Johnson had nine rebounds and four assists. 

Shaw scored eight of the Devils first nine points as they jumped out to an early 11-3 lead.  Post climbed back within two, 13-11 before seven straight Devil points, five from Colleen Christian (Central Bucks South HS/Warrington, Pa.) made it a nine-point bulge 20-11 with 9:51 left.  A 3-ball from Hamm later boosted the lead to double digits, 27-15.  The senior guard added two more triples towards the end of the period to give Sciences a 35-22 lead before a Chance basket made the score 35-24 at the break. 

Sciences opened the second half with a 17-9 spurt to boost their lead to 19, 52-33 with 13:29 left before an 8-3 run by the Eagles cut the lead back down to 12, 55-43 with 9:31 remaining.   Another 'trey from Hamm and lead was back to 15 and Sarah Hickman (Wilmington Christian School/Newark, Del.) added a free throw to make the score 61-45 with 8:00 left in the game.  Post countered with a 9-1 spurt capped by a Reynolds three-point play to cut the lead in half 62-54 with 6:04 left.  A free throw from Shaw and two more from Ruggear increased the margin back to 11 before a Brooks layup brought the lead back to single digits.  A layup from Rotz gave the Devils a 12-point bulge with 2:57 left and the lead remained in double figures until the final minute of play.  Another Ruggear free throw with 45 seconds made the score 73-60.  Post had one last run remaining, scoring the next five points to close the gap to eight 73-65 before two free throws from Marissa Chesnavich (Bishop O'Reilly HS/Pittston, Pa.)  provided the final scoring and sealed the 75-65 win. 

Statistically, the Devils held the advantage in nearly every category, out-shooting the Eagles 46.3% to 35.9%, doubling up the hosts with six three-points to three and making three more free throws (19-16).   Post was more efficient from the line though, making 16 of 21 (76.2%) to 19 of 31 (61.3%) for the Devils.  Post also held a slight advantage on the glass 40-37 but committed 21 turnovers (nine assists) while Sciences had 17 assists and just 16 turnovers. 

The Devils will host a quarterfinal playoff game at the Bobby Morgan Arena on Monday, February 28, 2011, taking on #3 seed Goldey-Beacom College. The winner moves on to the semi-finals on Friday at Holy Family University.   Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m.