BOX SCORE
Hackettstown, NJ – Marywood University's women's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season in Monday evening's Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) opener at Centenary College, 83-69. The loss drops the Pacers' record to 3-1 on the season and 0-1 in conference play while the Cyclones improve to 4-2 overall and 1-0 in the CSAC.
Marywood took the lead in the early stages of the first half and would go up by five points with 16:53 to play when Lizzy Green (Shenandoah, PA) converted a lay-up. Centenary would respond by scoring 13 unanswered points over the next 3:46 to take a 16-8 lead.
The visiting Pacers would pull within four on consecutive field goals from Stephanie Fusaro (Bala Cynwyd, PA) with 12:04 left on the clock, but the Cyclones would stretch their lead over the remainder of the half to hold a 42-29 halftime advantage.
Marywood would outscore the Cyclones 12-6 over the first four and a half minutes after the break and narrowed the hosts lead to 48-41 on Caitlin Hadzimichalis' lay-up with 14:21 remaining.
Centenary used a quick 5-0 run to reclaim a 14-point lead, but the Pacers rallied and narrowed the Cyclones' lead to six points at 53-47 with 11:47 to play on a Green lay-up, but the hosts responded with a 10-2 run and held a 63:49 lead with 8:59 to play.
The resilient Marywood side again battled back with an 8-0 run of their own to cut Centenary's lead to 63-57 with 6:57 to play, but the Pacers were unable to come any closer than six points to the Cyclones lead the rest of the way.
Centenary's Kristen Camuso led all scorers with 25 points and also grabbed 10 rebounds. Hannah Ally joined Camuso with a double-double after registering 17 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for the Cyclones, who shot 47 percent from the floor for the game.
Green paced Marywood with a career-high 23 points while pulling down eight boards. Mariah Schaeffer (Bainbridge, NY) netted 14 points while Amanda Lass (Brackney, PA) fell a rebound shy of a double-double with her 10-point, nine-rebound effort.
The Pacers shot 37 percent from the floor and struggled from the free throw line, connection on just 10 of 26 attempts from the charity stripe.
Marywood will return home on Wednesday evening for a 6:00 p.m. tip-off against Elizabethtown College in non-conference action.
