Misericordia Drops St. Mary’s, 76-54
Jamie Roberts
St. Mary's City, Md. - The Misericordia University women's basketball team notched its second victory in a row as the Cougars posted a 76-54 win over St. Mary's College of Maryland in non-conference action Monday night behind 18 points junior guard Vanessa Wright (Williamsport, Pa./Williamsport).
Joining Wright in double figures were senior forward Lacey DeGraw (Tyler Hill, Pa./Honesdale) with 16, freshman forward Christine Marks (Milford, Pa./Delaware Valley) with 13 and freshman guard Jesse Robinson (Barton, N.Y./Tioga Central) with 11. Robinson notched a double-double as she also picked up a game-high 11 rebounds.
The contest went back-and-forth in the first half as both teams just traded baskets. St. Mary's sophomore guard Jamie Roberts (Rockville, Md./Barrie) sank a pair of free throws at 12:34 to give the Seahawks their biggest lead (16-11) of the game. However, Misericordia (3-4) began to pull away with three consecutive lay-ups by Marks, DeGraw, and Wright which gave the Cougars the lead for good and sparked a 15-4 to give them a 26-20 advantage at 6:30. MU would go into halftime with a 37-32 margin.
Sophomore forward Tiara Hurte (Baltimore, Md./Perry Hall) led the Seahawks at intermission with a game-high 10 points, while Marks had eight off the bench for the Cougars. Marks was 2-for-2 from downtown as MU went 5-for-14 from three-point land.
A 17-5 start to the second half helped Misericordia break the game wide open and the Cougars would go on to lead by 20 or more points for the last 10:31 of the contest. Poor shooting in the second stanza hampered St. Mary's as the Seahawks only connected on eight of their 30 attempts, while Misericordia made close to 52% of its shots.
Senior guard Lindsey Sykes (Avalon, N.J./Middle Township) dished out a game-high seven assists for the Cougars.
The Seahawks (2-7) were paced by senior forward Allie Scott (Laurel, Md./Atholton) who registered her fourth straight double-double on 16 points and 10 boards, while Hurte finished with 13 points and seven caroms. Junior center Alex Wenger (Baltimore, Md./Perry Hall) hauled in a career-best 11 rebounds, while senior forward Kiely Murphy (Olney, Md./Good Counsel) added 11 points as Murphy was 3-for-5 from behind the three-point arc. Roberts also ended the evening in twin figures with 10 and six caroms.
St. Mary's returns to action this Wednesday, January 7 as the Seahawks host Salisbury University in a Capital Athletic Conference tilt at 6:00. The women's game is the first of a CAC doubleheader as men's hoops will also face Salisbury on Wednesday at 8:00.
