Box Score
Wilkes-Barre, PA – Wilkes University scored the first 15 points of Tuesday evening's non-conference women's basketball game against Marywood University, but the Pacers rallied to pick up a 63-48 victory. After tying the game seconds before halftime, Marywood outscored the Colonels 27-10 over the first 13 minutes of the second half to take control of the game and improve to 3-1 on the season.
Wilkes built a 15-0 lead over the first 7:58 of Tuesday night's game, but Marywood brought themselves back into the game with a 14-2 run to cut their deficit to 17-14 with 7:27 to play in the opening half when Allison Bruet (Binghamton, NY) hit the backend of a pair of free throws. The Pacers eventually tied the contest at 24-24 on a Mariah Schaeffer (Bainbridge, NY) with 2:04 showing on the clock and with the Colonels taking a late lead, Bruet sent the game into halftime level at 29-apiece by draining a three-pointer just five seconds before the buzzer.
Marywood struggled offensively in the opening 20 minutes of play, connecting on just 26.5 percent from the field. Schaeffer led all scorers with 15 first-half points while Carly Leitzel (Manheim, PA) added 10 for the Pacers. The Colonels, who shot a solid 54.5 percent from the floor in the opening frame, got a balanced attack in which eight players scored led by Erin Schneider's seven points.
Bruet would give Marywood their first lead of the game on a lay-up 14 seconds into the second half and the Pacers would outscore Wilkes 27-10 over the first 12:55 of the stanza to build a comfortable, 56-39 lead with 7:05 remaining. The hosts cut their deficit to 11 points on a Sam Lynam three-pointer with 3:28 to play, but that's as close as the Colonels would come as the Pacers four of the game's final five points to notch the 63-48 victory.
Schaeffer led all scorers with 17 points for the game while Leitzel recorded her first-career double-double on 16 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Bruet was the third Marywood player in double-figures with 14 points to go along with a game-best seven steals. The Pacers finished the evening hitting 36.5 percent of their shots from the floor including 31.6 percent from three-point range and 57.9 percent from the free throw line.
Lynam's 13 points led Wilkes, who got seven rebounds apiece from Angela Palmerio and Brittany Ely. The Pacers shot 40.5 percent from the field and 71.4 percent from the charity stripe on the evening.
Marywood opens conference play on Monday when they travel to La Plume to take on local rival Keystone College in the Colonial States Athletic Conference opener for both teams. The Pacers and Giants will tip-off at 6:00 p.m.
