Devils Score Big Win over Warriors

Brianne Traub scored 21 points and Becca Ruggear had a double-double as the University of the Sciences women's basketball team recorded a 26-point victory, despite poor second half shooting, 59-33 over East Stroudsburg University Monday afternoon at ESU's Koehler Fieldhouse. 

The Devils improve to 5-4 with the win while ESU falls to 3-6. 

Traub's (Eastern Christian HS/Wayne, N.J.) 21 points led all scorers.  The freshman guard connected on seven of 15 shots from the field and was 7-for-9 from the free throw line.  Traub also had three assists and a pair of steals.  Ruggear (Oxford Area HS/Oxford, Pa.) scored 11 points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.  Becca also blocked two shots.  Elsebeth Birman (St. John College HS/Silver Spring, Md.) had six assists (0 turnovers) and Sarah Hickman (Wilmington Christian School/Newark, Del.) and Isabella Ross (Central HS/Philadelphia, Pa.) grabbed eight rebounds apiece. 

Cyara Woodridge had 12 points to pace the Warriors.  Nicole Hill had nine rebounds and Ryann Fiascki had three assists. 

The Devils led this one wire-to-wire, scoring the first eight points and holding the Warriors to just one field goal in 20 attempts through the first 12:31.  Jessica Sylvester's (Nazareth Academy/Trevose, Pa.) two free throws at the 7:29 mark put the Devils up 20-3.  ESU scored seven straight points to cut the lead to 10 20-10 but the Devils closed out the half with a 13-7 spurt to lead 33-17 at the break.   Traub equaled the ESU point total with 17 points of her own in the period. 

A 6-2 run by the Warriors to open the second half cut the lead to 12, 35-23.   The Devils countered with an 11-2 uprising to lead by 21, 46-25 with 10:39 left.  A triple from Andrea Veres and a bucket by Woodridge closed the gap to 16, 46-30 at the 9:06 mark.  Woodridge's field goal would be the last the Warriors would make until the final minute of play as the Sciences outscored ESU 13-3 over the final nine minutes to finish with a 26-point win, 59-33. 

Both teams did not shoot particularly well, with the Devils making 18-62 (29%) and ESU 12-58(20.7%).    The poor shooting led to a combined total of 99 rebounds with the Devils holding a 55-44 advantage.  Sciences was much better from the free thorw line, making 22 of 30 (73.3%) to ESU's 8 of 19 (42.1%).   The Devils also had a better assist/turnover mark  15/13 to 6/19 for the Warriors. 

The Devils return to action on December 30, 2011 when they face Millersville University in the first round of West Chester University's holiday tournament at Hollinger Fieldhouse in West Chester, Pennsylvania.