Women's Basketball Defeats Susquehanna, 80-68
January 21, 2012

Women's Basketball Defeats Susquehanna, 80-68

SELINSGROVE, Pa. – The Moravian College women's basketball team defeated Landmark Conference rival Susquehanna University, 80-68 Saturday afternoon. Senior forward Alexandra Blair led the way for the Greyhounds with a double-double off of 23 points and 13 rebounds to go with her six blocks and four assists.

Box Score

SELINSGROVE, Pa. – The Moravian College women's basketball team defeated Landmark Conference rival Susquehanna University, 80-68 Saturday afternoon. Senior forward Alexandra Blair led the way for the Greyhounds with a double-double off of 23 points and 13 rebounds to go with her six blocks and four assists.

Junior forward Gina Palazzi netted the first basket of the game for the Crusaders, and senior guard Korey McCaffrey followed that up with another basket for a quick 4-0 lead. Junior guard Amanda Kreuder answered right back with a three-pointer, and sophomore guard Danielle Brogan followed that up with another three to put Moravian up 6-4 two and half minutes in.

At the 15:27 mark of the first half, McCaffrey would hit a deep three-pointer to put the Crusaders up 11-6. The Crusaders would start a 6-0 run capped with a jumper from junior forward Ariana Stowe to give Susquehanna a 19-9 lead with 12:31 to play in the first half. Sophomore forward Laura Jordan ended the Crusaders run with a basket while drawing the foul. She would convert on the free throw to make the score 19-12. A layup from Kreuder would cut the Hounds deficit to two points with just under 11 minutes remaining in the half. A jumper shot from 15 feet by Jordan on the next possession would knot the game back at 19.

Brogan would then hit a three from the corner to put the Greyhounds up 23-19 with 8:39 left in the half. Junior guard Ainsley Rossitto ended Moravian's run with an easy lay in with 6:34 remaining. A three from freshman guard Brianna Murphy cut the Crusaders deficit to one point at 25-24 with 5:35 to go in the half.

Brogan would nail her third three-pointer of the half on the next possession to put Moravian back up by four points. The Greyhounds would push their lead to 11 points at 34-23 with 3:46 left in the first half after a jumper from Jordan. Both teams would exchange buckets the rest of the half as Moravian would take a 41-32 lead into the locker room.

The Greyhounds shot 36-percent from the field while the Crusaders shot 41-percent from the field in the first half. Moravian brought down one more rebounds and had two less turnovers in the first half. Brogan led the Hounds in the first half with three three-pointers and a total of ten points while McCaffrey led Susquehanna with seven points and two rebounds in the first half.

Freshman forward Alexis Wright would get the Moravian on the board first in the second half with a layup. Another layup from Blair would put the Greyhounds up by 14 points at 49-35 just two minutes into the second half.

McCaffrey would end Moravian's run with a three-pointer to make the score 49-38. A couple minutes later, back-to-back layups from Wright would put the Hounds back up by 14 at 55-41, but McCaffrey answered with another three to cut the deficit to 11 points. A jumper from McCaffrey on the next possession would bring the Crusaders back within single digits of the lead at 55-46 with 15 minutes to go.

At the ten minute mark Blair would hit the easy layup to put Moravian back up by 11 points at 59-48. Another jumper from ten feet out by Blair would extend the Greyhounds lead to 61-48 with 8:21 left in the contest. With four minutes to go McCaffrey would hit her sixth three to bring the Crusaders within ten points of the lead at 71-61.

With two more free throws from Palazzi, Susquehanna would cut its lead to eight points with three minutes to go. Blair would respond with a layup to push the lead back to 73-63. The Crusaders would battle but fall short to the Greyhounds, 80-68.

Kreuder finished with 14 points and six rebounds while Brogan had 12 points, four boards and three assists. Wright had nine points and seven rebounds while Jordan had seven points and three boards on the day..

McCaffrey led the Crusaders with 27 points and four rebounds. Palazzi put up ten points and nine rebounds while freshman guard Jonaida Williams had eight assists, seven points and five rebounds.

Moravian shot 40-percent from the field while Susquehanna shot 39-percent from the field for the game. The Greyhounds out rebounded the Crusaders 45 to 36, and had four less turnovers.

Moravian returns to action Friday, January 27th when they travel to foe Goucher College. The contest is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.