MEADVILLE, Pa.— A late fourth quarter run lifted the Oberlin College Yeowomen over the Allegheny College women's basketball team, 66-52, in a back-and-forth North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) contest Wednesday (Jan. 18) in Meadville.
The game featured 12 lead changes and four times.
After a defensive battle in the opening five minutes of the game, the Gators offense got rolling. Trailing 3-2, the Gators went on a 9-2 to take control. Oberlin called a timeout late in the quarter to calm the momentum but a
Meaghan Wilby buzzer beating three gave the Gators a 17-6 lead heading into the second.
Olivia Barkley and
Amanda Beebe led the Gators with four points in the opening ten minutes. The Gators shot 58.3% (seven-of-12) from the field.
Delaney Arbore opened the second with a three pointer to push the Gator advantage to 14. Less than a minute later,
Angela Martelli pushed the lead to 16 with her first basket of the game. The Yeowomen slowly mounted a comeback, bringing the lead down to just five, 24-19, with five minutes to play in the half. After the lead dropped to four, another three pointer drained by Arbore brought the lead back up to seven. However, the Yeowomen continued to fight back, bringing the lead down to 29-26 at halftime.
Arbore led the Gators with eight points in the opening half. Barkley finished the half with six points and a team-high six rebounds. The Gators finished the half shooting 41.4% (12-of-29) from the field.
The Yeowomen opened the third on a 4-0 run but a Beebe layup pushed the Gators back in front, 31-30. The back-and-forth style continued throughout the third. The Yeowomen built up a 39-35 lead but the Gators gained it back, 41-40, on a Beebe three with four minutes remaining in the quarter. The lead was short lived as Oberlin gained it back on their possession. The lead changed three more times before the start of the fourth as the Gators led 45-44 heading into the final ten minutes.
Beebe led the Gators with five points in the third while Barkley had four.
Barkley scored the first four points of the fourth to push the Gator lead to five, 49-44. Oberlin, though, responded with an 8-3 run to tie the game at 52 with five minutes to go. After tying the game, the Yeowomen run continued as they built a 56-52 lead, forcing a Gator timeout with three-and-a-half minutes to play.
After the timeout, Oberlin's defense continued to pressure the Gators as they kept the Allegheny off the board the rest of the game as they closed the game strong at the free-throw line.
Barkley finished the game with team-highs in points (14) and rebounds (9). She also had a pair of assists. Beebe netted nine points while grabbing six rebounds. Arbore had a team-high four assists to go with eight points.
Emily Smith and Wilby had five points apiece.
Jazmen Moore finished with three assists.
Allegheny finished the game shooting 36.2% (21-of-58) from the field, including seven-of-20 (35.0%) from three point land.
Defensively,
Michela Contestabile blocked four shots while collecting three rebounds. Martelli had a pair of blocks to go with four points and three rebounds. The eight blocked shots tied a season-high for the Gators.
Kaylah Pinkney tallied five rebounds.
The Gators are back at home Saturday (Jan. 21) playing host to Kenyon College at 1 p.m.
