By Gabrielle Devaud
Elm Staff Writer
Visiting Gettysburg College defeated WC 69-64 in a Centennial Conference women’s basketball game last Saturday.
Gettysburg held a 19-8 lead with under 11 minutes to play in the first half before the Shorewomen went on a 13-4 run to cut the lead to 23-21 with a free-throw by sophomore Erin Kile with 6:08 to go. The Bullets responded by finishing the half with a 10-1 run to build a 33-24 advantage at the half.
In the second half, WC scored eight consecutive points to pull to within two points at 51-49 on a jumper by freshman Claire Mattox with 5:40 remaining. Gettysburg got the lead back up to as many as six points, but a three-pointer by WC freshman Kelly Mitchell with 2:34 to go got the Shorewomen within two points at 59-57. The Bullets answered by scoring the next eight points building a 65-57 advantage. Gettysburg held a 66-59 lead with under 40 seconds to go before a three-pointer by junior Sally O’Donnell and a lay-up by junior Meghan Tait pulled WC to within three points at 67-64 with 23 seconds remaining.
O’Donnell had a game-high 17 points and had six rebounds. Tait scored 14 points dishing out seven assists, and grabbing six rebounds. Freshman Erin Fitzgerald scored nine points and collected a career-best 12 rebounds. The Shorewomen held a 42-36 advantage on the boards.
The Shorewomen returned to action Monday night with a Centennial Conference game against McDaniel. WC got double-doubles from Tait and O’Donnell en route to a 78-72 victory. The Shorewomen improve to 11-12 overall and 9-9 in conference play. The 78 points was a season-high for the Shorewomen.
O’Donnell had 22 points and had a career-high 13 rebounds and also a personal best seven assists. She also blocked four shots in the triumph. Tait had a season-high 17 points and handed out a game-best 11 assists.
In the second half, Tait gave WC its biggest lead of the game at 45-35 with 18:11 left in the contest. With eight minutes left, McDaniel cut the WC lead to 58-56, and then evened the game at 60-60 when Mattox hit a jumper with 7:15 to go. McDaniel then proceeded to take the lead at 62-60 with 6:31 left.
O’Donnell answered on the next possession as she tied the game at 62-62 on a layup with 6:08 to go. She then drained a three-pointer with 4:58 to go to put WC up for good at 65-62. The Shorewomen led 67-65 with 3:03 left before scoring the next seven points to take a 74-65 lead with 1:46 left. Fitzgerald began the run with a layup on a feed from Tait to make it 69-65. On the next possession, freshman Latisha Pledger stole the ball and the Shorewomen were awarded a timeout. During the timeout, a technical foul was assessed on the McDaniel bench and O’Donnell hit one of the two technical free throws to make the score 70-65.
McDaniel went on a 7-1 run to close the gap to 75-72 with 41 seconds left. The final minute was battled out, and even though McDaniel came within 3 points of tying the game, the Shorewomen prevailed.
In addition to O’Donnell and Tait, Pledger had 17 points for the Shorewomen. The Shorewomen held a 41-32 edge on the boards.
Kile is confident her team will finish the last week of regular schedule play strong.
“I hope to close out our season by winning our last couple games and hopefully getting a spot in the conference playoffs. We have come a long way and have made many strides, but mostly we improved on being able to play as a unit and not just individuals,” said Kile.
Kile also commented on the achievements the team have made this year.
“We have reached a lot of goals during the season and made marks in the history of the program,” she said. “We won more than 7 conference games and beat McDaniel the first time in a few years. Those are just some of the goals we reached.”
The Shorewomen play their last game of the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 19. They face Bryn Mawr away in conference play at 2 p.m.
February 18, 2011
Volume LXXXI Issue 15