BETHLEHEM, Pa.— The Allegheny College women's basketball team closed 2017 with a 66-54 win over Penn State Lehigh Valley on the final day of the Moravian College Greyhound Classic Sunday (Dec. 31).
The Gators had one of their best opening quarters of the season. Over the opening five minutes of play, the Gators offense put together a 15-0 run. Over that run, both
Delaney Arbore and
Zoe Soilis had five points apiece. The Nitanny Lions cut the lead to 18-7 a few minutes later but the Gators finished the quarter strong, pushing their lead up to 27-11 entering the second quarter.
A three pointer by Arbore gave the Gators their biggest lead of the game, 30-11, early in the second quarter. Lehigh Valley responded to that deficit with a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 13. A jumper by
Julianna Skowron pushed the lead back to 15 but the Nitanny Lions cut the gap to just ten points, 33-23, entering the half.
Arbore led the Gators with 11 points in the opening half. Brook Smith had six points while Soilis and Skowron had five apiece. Soilis and Skowron also combined for 11 rebounds.
Rylee Donovan had four assists.
Lehigh Valley cut the lead to single digits to open the third, but the Gators went on a 7-0 run to take a 15 point lead. Midway through the quarter, an Arbore three gave Allegheny a 19 point lead once more, 47-28. After a media timeout, the Gators lead reached 20, 50-30, before heading into the fourth quarter with a 52-35 lead.
Once again, Arbore opened the fourth quarter with a three pointer. After trading baskets, a jumper from
Madison Caufield gave the Gators a 22 point lead, 59-37. The Nitanny Lions cut into the lead in the closing minutes but were unable to overcome the Allegheny advantage.
Arbore led the Gators with 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists as she was named to the All-Tournament team. Donovan also finished in double figures with 15 points to go with seven rebounds and a team-high seven assists. Soilis had nine points and six rebounds while Skowron just missed a double-double with nine points and a team-high 12 rebounds. Caufield had eight points to go with five rebounds.
For the game, the Gators shot 37.1% (26-of-70) from the floor and 37.9% (11-of-29) from three. They held a 51-41 advantage on rebounds, with 18 coming on the offensive glass. The Gators played well defensively, blocking five shots.
Allegheny is back in action Saturday (Jan. 6), playing hose to Denison University at 1 p.m.
