MEADVILLE, Pa.—The Allegheny College women's basketball team lost a back-and-forth home battle against Wittenberg University 75-72 to open North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) play Friday evening (Dec. 2).
The game featured six tied and seven lead changes, the majority of which occurred in the second half.
The Gators got on the board first off of a
Delaney Arbore three. After that, the Tigers went on a 7-0 run to jump ahead. The Tigers kept the lead the rest of the quarter, growing their advantage to eight, 23-15, heading into the second.
Arbore cut the lead to five with a three to open the second. The Gators kept the Tiger shooters in check, narrowing the gap to just one midway through the quarter. Trailing 24-23, an Arbore layup gave the Gators their first lead since the opening basket. A minute later,
Jazmen Moore increased their lead to three. The Tigers cut the lead to one but a three by
Maia Joiner gave the Gators a four point lead, their largest of the game, with less than two minutes to play in the opening half. The Tigers cut into the lead a bit but the Gators took a 32-30 lead into the locker room.
Arbore led the Gators with 10 points in the opening half while Moore had nine.
Zoe Soilis grabbed a team-high six rebounds while
Kaylah Pinkney had four.
The Tigers struck first in the third to tie the game at 32 but
Olivia Barkley responded quickly for the Gators to put them back ahead. After the Tigers tied it once again, the Gators went on a 5-0 run to push their lead five. The Tigers quickly responded, scoring five points over the next minute to tie the game at 39.
Emily Smith scored five straight points with the game tied to give the Gators a 44-39 lead with just over five minutes to play in the quarter. After the Tigers cut the lead down once again, the teams went back-and-forth, as neither team led by more than five in the quarter. A late layup by the Tigers gave them a 55-52 advantage heading into the fourth.
The Tigers extended their lead to four early in the fourth quarter. The teams continued to battle back-and-forth as the Gators tied the game at 64-64 with five minutes to play. Over the next two minutes, the Tigers built a five point lead, 69-64.
A pair of threes by Arbore brought the game within one, 71-70, with one minute to play. The Tigers converted three foul shots to bring their lead to four, 74-70, with 15 seconds to play. After a timeout, Arbore hit a layup to bring the game within two. The Tigers converted just one-of-two free throws on the other end to give the Gators a chance. However, the final Gator shot missed its target as the Tigers held on for the conference win.
Arbore ended the game with 23 points and four assists. Moore finished with 19 points and three assists.
Emily Smith also reached double digits in the point category, finishing with 10.
Olivia Barkley was a savage on the boards, grabbing a team-high 10 rebounds to go with six points and four assists. Soilis and
Kiersten Librizzi had eight apiece.
Angela Martelli blocked four shots.
As a team, the Gators shot 35% (28-of-80) from the floor, knocking down 11 threes. The Tigers owned a 60-50 edge in rebounds though the Gators 20 offensive boards led to 19 second chance points. Thirty-seven of the Gators points came off the bench.
Allegheny is back in action Saturday (Dec. 3) at home against Depauw University.
