MEADVILLE, Pa. – The Allegheny College women's basketball team completed a season sweep of Oberlin College this evening with a 61-49 victory over the Yeowomen in North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) action.
After just nine points deciding the two teams' last three meetings, Allegheny (12-10, 7-6 NCAC) enjoyed a much more comfortable victory this time around. The Gators forced Oberlin (10-12, 4-9 NCAC) into 35 turnovers as six different players registered multiple steals.
Freshman guard
Delaney Arbore led all scorers with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting, while the senior duo of
Jessica Mrdjenovich and
Emma Pellicano added eight points each. Another fourth-year,
Rachel Vigliotti, pickpocketed a game-high five Yeowomen in 25 minutes and contributed seven points offensively.
Oberlin jumped out to an 8-4 lead before Allegheny responded with a Vigliotti trifecta and Mrdjenovich jumper to take a 9-8 advantage into the second quarter. The difference reached nine points at 19-10 with 4:56 left in the half after a pair of Vigliotti free-throws, but an 11-4 run for the Yeowomen trimmed their deficit to 23-21. The Gators answered back with three points from Arbore and a basket from Mrdjenovich, and set the halftime score at 31-28 following another successful cast from international waters from the North Huntingdon, Pa. freshman.
The visitors again cut the difference to two early in the third quarter, but after a scoring drought of nearly three minutes by both teams, a six-point run by Pellicano made it 37-29 Allegheny. Two layups from
Ifeyinwa Uwazie sandwiched a three-pointer from Oberlin's Lindsey Bernhardt to make it a nine-point game after three frames.
The Gators wouldn't let the Yeowomen back into the game as a 15-7 run to begin the fourth quarter made it 58-39. Arbore's trifecta with 3:13 remaining would be the last points Allegheny would score on the night as Oberlin closed the contest with a 6-0 stretch to make the final look closer.
Senior forward
Kaitlyn Fromknecht blocked three shots on the night. Arbore's 18-point effort helped the Gators possess a 28-13 edge in bench points.
Allegheny, currently holding a two-game edge plus the tiebreaker over Wittenberg for the fourth seed in the NCAC Tournament, is back on the road this Saturday, Feb. 13 at 1:00 p.m. against Ohio Wesleyan to begin its last road trip of the regular season.
