WAYNESBURG, Pa.— The Allegheny College women's basketball team opened their 2018-19 campaign on the road, picking up a 69-49 win at Waynesburg University Tuesday (Nov. 13).
After scoring the first basket of the game, the Gators never relinquished the lead.
Rylee Donovan got the Gators on the board just 11 seconds in with a layup. After a Yellow Jacket turnover,
Julianna Skowron grabbed an offensive board and laid it back up to make it 4-0. Donovan extended the lead to 7-0 with a three before the Yellow Jackets got on the board.
Delaney Arbore hit a three minutes later, making it 10-2. Waynesburg brought the lead down to 10-6 before
Brooke Smith converted a traditional three point play. Smith scored her fifth point of the opening quarter with just under two minutes to play. After a Yellow Jacket basket, a pair of Arbore free-throws gave the Gators a 17-9 lead after the first quarter.
The Yellow Jackets cut the lead to 17-12 with a three to open the second quarter. A
Mari Casale free-throw, followed by a Smith layup made it 20-12. The Yellow Jackets answered with a 6-1 run to cut the lead to three, 21-18. After trading points, the Gators closed the first half on an 8-0 run,
Arbore led the Gators in the opening 20 minutes with nine points. Donovan went for eight with five rebounds while Smith had seven.
Kaylah Pinkney, Casale and
Shannon Relihan had four rebounds apiece.
The Gators increased their lead to 40-24 early in the third quarter, with Arbore and Pinkney hitting threes. After a timeout, Waynesburg hit a three, but Donovan answered for the Gators with back-to-back threes to push the advantage to 46-28. The Yellow Jackets went on a 6-0 run, closing the gap to 12 points. In the final three-and-a-half minutes of the third, the Gators spewed off an 8-1 as they owned a 54-35 advantage heading into the fourth.
Allegheny's momentum carried over to the fourth quarter as they outscored the Yellow Jackets 8-2 in the first four minutes. In the closing minutes of the game, Waynesburg pushed back, but were unable to overcome the Gator advantage, as Allegheny clinched a season opening win.
In all, four Gators finished the game with double digit point totals. Donovan led the way for the Gators with 18 points to go alongside seven rebounds. Arbore and Skowron netted 13 points apiece, while Smith finished with 11 points and five steals. Pinkney had seven points with six rebounds. Arbore and Pinkney shared the team lead with three assists. Relihan finished with a team-high eight rebounds.
The Gators shot 42.4% from the field for the game while limiting Waynesburg to 28.1%. Allegheny also owned a 44-33 advantage in the rebound department.
Brooke Fuller led the Yellow Jackets with 12 points, while Andrea Orlosky had 11.
The Gators are back in action this weekend at the Greg Richards '08 Memorial Classic, hosted by Allegheny. On Friday (Nov. 16), the Gators will face Case Western Reserve University before meeting Ohio Northern University Saturday (Nov. 17).
