GAMBIER, Ohio – Trailing by seven with 15 minutes remaining in the second half, the Allegheny women's basketball squad outscored the hosting Ladies of Kenyon College, 9-2, over the final five minutes to earn a 66-61, North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) win on Saturday afternoon at Tomsich Arena.

Three Gators scored in double figures, led by junior Emma Pellicano, who scored 17 points for the Blue and Gold.  Senior Kendall Hoffman added 14 points and a team-high two blocks, as junior Ifeyinwa Uwazie tacked on 11 points and a team-high two steals.  Pellicano tied fellow junior Rachel Vigliotti for a team-high in rebounds as each ripped down five boards, as sophomore Meaghan Wilby led the squad with three assists.

Allegheny closed out the contest shooting 46.9 percent from the floor, led by an impressive, 7-of-11 performance from Pellicano.  Uwazie helped the Gators down the stretch, hitting a pair of free throws that essentially clinched the contest for Allegheny, finishing the afternoon shooting 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.

With Saturday's triumph, the Gators improve to 6-4 in the NCAC and sweep the regular season series from the Ladies for the first time since the 2008-09 season.  In addition, Allegheny's win over Kenyon is the third win for the Gators this season by five or fewer points, all road games, following an overtime win over Washington & Jefferson (Nov. 25) and a last-minute triumph over Wittenberg (Jan. 3).

The Gators took a 10-4 lead early in the first half before Kenyon began to grab control of the opening stanza, taking a one-point lead with 12:02 remaining.  The Ladies increased their lead to as many as five points with 7:26 left, back-to-back layups by Uwazie and junior Kaitlyn Fromknecht sliced the Kenyon lead to one point at 27-26. 

The two squads continued to trade buckets down the stretch of the first half, but a three-pointer by Pellicano with four seconds remaining in the half gave Allegheny momentum despite a 35-32 Kenyon lead.

Kenyon held Allegheny without a bucket during the first two minutes of the second half while building a game-high, seven-point lead.  Trailing, 41-34, with 16:20 remaining, a layup by Pellicano, traditional three-point play by junior Jessica Mrdjenovich and three-pointer by Vigliotti completed a 8-2 run to bring the Gators back within one point at 43-42 with 14:18 left.

A jumper by Vigliotti put the Gators ahead once again at 51-49 with 9:29 left, but the lead was short-lived as Kenyon re-built a three-point lead with 5:58 remaining.  Another lead-changing jumper by Vigliotti was answered by a three-pointer by Kenyon, putting the Ladies up, 61-59, but Hoffman tipped the scales in the favor of the Blue and Gold permanently with a clutch three-pointer with 1:58 on the clock, sending Allegheny to a 62-61 lead.

The Gator defense held Kenyon to 0-for-5 from the field over the final two minutes of the contest, while Pellicano and Uwazie combined to go 4-for-4 from the free-throw line to clinch the win for the Gators.

Allegheny will return to the David V. Wise Center on Friday, February 6th to meet NCAC foe DePauw for a 6 p.m. contest before facing off against Wittenberg at 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 7th.