The Shorewomen lost by a mere 10 point margin to put them out of post-season Centennial Conference play
By Austin Allen
Elm Staff Writer
Host Franklin & Marshall withheld a late comeback by the Shorewomen to get a 64-54 win on Saturday, Feb. 1, in a Centennial Conference match up game at the Mayser Center.
The Diplomats got a double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds from senior Kristin Hamill while the Shorewomen got a game-high 17 points from senior Bridget McLaughlin.
The Diplomats improve to 7-12 overall, while the Shorewomen fall to 8-11 on the season. Both teams are 5-9 in Centennial play.
The Diplomats started on a 4-0 run, quick to set the tone for the game. After this lead, the Shorewomen scored nine straight buckets to take a 9-4 lead with five minutes remaining in the first quarter.
This quick run was led by senior Cassidy Quattro, who hit a baseline jumper to put them up five. This was definitely a game of runs, and F&M would quickly respond after a timeout.
The Diplomats scored 10 unanswered points to end the first quarter of play. Still in the first quarter of the match up, F&M led the contest 14-9.
Quattro said, “We could feel that this was going to be a game of runs. Coach just kept telling us to fight and it’s going to come down to who can get some stops and that was our focus going into the second quarter.”
Senior Hamill would put the Diplomats back up on the Shorewomen with a reverse lay-in with 2:05 remaining.
With the final seconds remaining, junior forward Emily Morgan capped the scoring with two free throws.
Senior Caitlyn Clark, the lead point guard for the Shorewomen, said, “We all knew what we had to do to come out victorious. I’m glad we kept fighting and listened to the game plan by coach.”
Starting out in the second quarter, the Diplomats scored the final five buckets of play to take a 30-20 lead into the break.
During this quarter, the Shorewomen got plenty of help from sophomore Crystal Jones, McLaughlin, and Clark.
Jones knocked down a couple threes to keep the Shorewomen in the game.
Jones said, “It’s always going to be a team effort, and I love the way our team competes each and every night.”
Clark said, “Each game we fight and compete hard, that’s all that matters.”
McLaughlin then drained a deep three for the Shorewomen to cut the lead to 25-30 with two minutes remaining in the first half.
Right after, junior forward, Diplomat Emily Moran answered with a three of her own with a minute left to go in the second quarter.
Hamill capped off her 16 point first half on a quick lay-up which made the score 30-20 going into halftime.
McLaughlin said, “Going into the half, I was proud of where our team was because we understood what we had to do and once we cleaned up a few mistakes on the defensive end, we knew we were right there.”
Coming into the new half, the Diplomats picked up where they left off scoring the first five buckets of play. They took a 35-20 lead on the Shorewomen.
A Lockhart jumper led the 10 straight points for the Diplomats and some of the 15-2 run that gave host F&M a 40-22 advantage with a little under six minutes to go in the third. Heading into the final quarter, the Diplomats would take a 50-30 lead.
In the fourth quarter, the Shorewomen would not go down without a fight. Trailing 57-42 with a little under two minutes to go, the Shorewomen showed grit and determination.
Jones said, “We were not going to go down easily, and we all knew we could make a comeback.”
Well, that’s exactly what the Shorewomen did. The Shorewomen went on a 11-2 run that trimmed the lead to 59-53 with just 43 seconds left in the contest on a McLaughlin layup.
McLaughlin caught fire in the fourth quarter as she nailed two late threes that helped the Shorewomen during that 11-2 run. The Diplomats would go ahead and make a couple of late free throws as they went five for six from the line to extend the lead in the final 40 seconds of play.
McLaughlin tallied 17 points, Crystal Jones chipped in 12 and three steals, Clark put in 10 points, four assists and two steals, Quattro and freshman Lizzie Hudock each tallied five rebounds in a collective team effort. For F&M, the Diplomats leading scorer was Moran, who tallied a game-best 19 points and three steals to lead the Diplomats.
Up next for the Shorewomen is Johns Hopkins on Feb. 2 in Baltimore for another Centennial Conference match up.
