GRANVILLE, Ohio – The Allegheny College women's basketball team held a 32-31 halftime advantage against Denison University, but the Big Red stormed back with a 24-11 edge in the fourth quarter to defeat the Gators this afternoon, 76-62.
Allegheny (8-8, 3-4 NCAC) received 13 points from freshman guard
Candaisy Crawford, who did the majority of her damage at the line with a 9-of-11 performance on foul shots. It was a balanced effort offensively for the Gators as seven players scored at least six points.
Senior forward
Kaitlyn Fromknecht blocked two shots in 21 minutes of action, giving her 155 for her career. One more rejection would break the program career record, while three would let her claim the single-season standard – both marks currently held or shared by Jennifer Latronica (2003-07).
Allegheny shot just 30.1 percent (22-73) from the floor and 15.8 percent (3-19) from international waters, compared to Denison's (13-3, 6-1 NCAC) 52.9 (27-51) and 53.8 (7-13) percent marks from those respective areas. The Big Red also made 15-of-20 attempts from the charity stripe.
The Gators stuck around thanks partially to a 20-8 edge in points off of turnovers. Allegheny forced 25 takeaways, compared to just 11 forced turnovers by Denison.
Trailing by 10 after one quarter of play, the Gators stormed back with 16 of the first 18 points of the second stanza to take a 26-24 advantage. After freshman guard
Jazmen Moore scored to give Allegheny the lead, the Big Red had an immediate answer with a trifecta on the other end by Gabrielle Nottage. Crawford sank a pair of free-throws on the next possession, kickstarting a brief 6-0 stretch that extended the Gator edge to 32-27. However, Denison scored the final four points of the period to make it 32-31 visitors after 20 minutes.
The third quarter featured 11 lead changes by itself with the largest advantage of four points coming with 3:51 remaining in the frame. Moore cut into that with a three-pointer to make it 46-45 Big Red, and Crawford made two attempts from the chalk to give Allegheny back the lead. Denison responded with a layup on its next possession, but that was met with a basket by senior guard
Rachel Vigliotti. The teams traded three more buckets in the quarter, with the hosts getting two of those to take a 52-51 advantage into the final stanza.
Crawford's basket plus a foul with 8:23 left in regulation gave the Gators a 56-55 lead, but that would be the last time the visitors would be in front as a 10-for-12 effort from the charity stripe down the stretch would seal the victory for Denison.
The Big Red was led by Jordan Holmes, who had 16 points, 15 rebounds, and nine blocks.
Allegheny returns to action on Wednesday, Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m. when it hosts Wooster.
