Defenders Edge Pacers in Thriller at Marywood
Marywood seniors Mariah Schaeffer (10), Marielle Thorsen (14), and Allison Bruet (5) were honored before Saturday's game.

Defenders Edge Pacers in Thriller at Marywood

Women's Basketball - 2/11/2012 4:20:00 PM

Box Score

Scranton, PA – Visiting Baptist Bible College avenged a January loss to Marywood University on Saturday, escaping Marywood's Insalaco Arena with an exciting, 57-55 victory over the Pacers in Colonial States Athletic Conference play.  The Defenders improve to 16-6 on the season while the Pacers record slips to 16-7 overall.  The two teams now sit tied atop the CSAC North Division standings with identical, 11-3 conference records.
 
Marywood led 6-4 after the first 2:22 of Saturday afternoon's contest, but Baptist Bible outscored the Pacers 17-5 over the next 8:38 to hold a 21-11 advantage with nine minutes to play in the first half.  The Defenders stretched their advantage to 12 points at the 7:30 mark on a layup by ChAmeera Boggs, but the Pacers would score the final four points of the opening stanza to cut their deficit to 26-21 at the break.
 
Baptist Bible was paced by Ruthie Butts' seven first half points while Melanie Williams added six points in the period.  The Defenders, who got 10 first half rebounds from Kacee Rava, shot 43.5 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes of play.  Marywood struggled offensively in the first period, connecting on just 20 percent of their attempts from the floor and going 1-10 from beyond the arc in the period.  Marielle Thorsen's six first half points was tops for the Pacers in the frame.
 
Mariah Schaeffer scored on a layup to open the second half to bring Marywood to within three points at 26-23, but Baptist Bible responded with a 10-1 spurt to hold a 36-24 lead with 14:20 remaining.  The visitors stretched their lead to as many as 13 points, but the Pacers drew to within five at 43-38 with just under 10 minutes to play following a 10-2 run of their own. 
 
Trailing 52-44 with 5:23 left on the clock, Marywood rattled off 11 unanswered points to claim a 55-52 lead with 1:38 remaining.  Morgann Schaffer canned a three-pointer at the 2:09 mark to give the Pacers their first lead since the opening minutes of the game and Schaeffer followed with another layup to give the hosts a three-point edge. 
 
Baptist Bible knotted the game with one minute to play after Butts hit the frontend of a pair of free throws and Kelly Bargfeldt followed by converting a pair from the line herself.  The Defenders then reclaimed the lead, 57-55 with 25 seconds to play on a jumper by Butts.  The Pacers were able to force a turnover off a Defenders' inbounds play and called time out with just under two seconds left on the clock to set the stage for a dramatic ending.  Thorsen found Schaeffer with a pass, but the senior's long-range jumper bounced off the front of the win to secure the Baptist Bible victory.
 
Williams and Rava each finished with 12 points with Rava completing a double-double with a game-high 17 rebounds for Baptist Bible.  Butts finished with 10 points and a game-high four assists for the Defenders, who shot 36.8 percent from the field for the game, 20 percent from three-point land, and 61.9 percent from the free throw line.
 
Schaeffer netted a game-high 18 points for Marywood while Thorsen added 12 points as the Pacers shot 31.1 percent from the floor for the game while going 7-10 from the free throw line.  Marywood struggled from beyond the arc, connecting on just two of 23 long range shots.  Maggie Presnal led the hosts with six rebounds while Schaeffer, Allison Bruet, and Brittany Mang each collected three steals in the loss.
 
Marywood returns to the hardwood on Monday evening for another important CSAC contest against Immaculata University that is scheduled to tipoff at 6:00 p.m. in the Insalaco Arena.
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