COLUMBUS, Ohio – Allegheny College women's basketball senior forward
Emma Pellicano flirted with a triple-double as the Gators claimed third-place at the Capital University Holiday Tournament with a 77-60 victory over Misericordia University this afternoon.
Pellicano scored a team-high 14 points for Allegheny (7-4, 2-0 NCAC), while adding nine rebounds and a career-tying seven steals. Also in double-figures for the Gators were fellow seniors
Jessica Mrdjenovich and
Kaitlyn Fromknecht, who scored 11 and 10, respectively. Fromknecht also pulled down 11 rebounds to complete her fourth double-double of the season.
Freshman guard
Candaisy Crawford tallied nine points and five steals in the fourth start of her career. Allegheny shot just under 40 percent from the field and only shot eight free-throws, but made up for that by forcing 30 turnovers.
The Gators also held edges in points off turnovers (26-14), second chance points (20-16), bench points (29-25), and points in the paint (40-32).
Allegheny set the tone early with a 25-10 lead after 10 minutes of play. The Gators scored the first nine points of the game with the aforementioned Crawford, Fromknecht, Mrdjenovich, and Pellicano all making their mark in the scoresheet. Misericordia (3-8, 0-2 MAC Freedom) finally got on the scoreboard 3:10 into the opening quarter with a pair of free-throws, but Allegheny responded with 10 consecutive points to make it 19-2.
The lead reached over 20 points for the first time midway through the second quarter when Pellicano's layup made it 35-14 Gators. The difference again was 21 in the third frame after freshman guard
Delaney Arbore sank a three-point shot and reached its new peak at 61-36 with a Fromknecht jumper in the paint. Allegheny pushed its advantage as high as 27 points in the fourth quarter with another Arbore basket, but the Cougars closed the game on a 13-3 run to cut the final deficit under 20.
Fromknecht blocked three shots on the afternoon, giving her 48 for the season. She is now five rejections shy of tying her career-high of 53, set in 2014-15, and is 18 away from breaking the single-season program record.
Justine Seely scored a game-high 21 points for Misericordia and added 11 rebounds to register a double-double.
Allegheny returns to North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) play on Saturday, Jan. 2 at 2:00 p.m. when it hosts DePauw University.
