Women's Basketball Stays Atop CSAC Standings
Gabrielle Giordano scored a season-best 24 points in the Pacers' win

Women's Basketball Stays Atop CSAC Standings

Women's Basketball - 1/20/2016 10:31:00 PM

Box Score Box Score

Scranton, PA - Marywood University punched its first victory over Cabrini College in four seasons with a 70-65 victory in Colonial States Athletic Conference women's basketball action. The Pacers remain tied with Gwynedd Mercy University atop the CSAC standings with a perfect 7-0 mark in conference play. Marywood ends a four-game losing streak to the Cavaliers that dates back to the 2011-12 CSAC playoffs.

Freshman Gabrielle Giordano scored a season-high 24 points on 9 of 14 shooting. Giordano has scored above 15 points each of the past four games. 

Natasha Hessling and Tara Steakin each provided 11 points. Alexa Gerchman was a rebound and a point shy of a double-double with nine apiece.  She added four assists to pass Mariah Schaeffer '12 for fifth in the school's career records. Courtney Murray supplied three blocks.

Cabrini (8-8, 5-2 CSAC) was led by Meghan Martin's 23 point effort. Dana Peterson added 12 points for the Cavaliers, who slip into a tie with Neumann for third place.

Marywood (10-6, 7-0 CSAC) trailed by as many as eight points in the third quarter before turning the tables on the Cavaliers. An 11-2 Cavaliers' run over a 2:15 span gave them its largest lead of the game (42-34) off a Renee Oliver jumper with 5:15 left in the stanza. The Pacers responded with a 13-2 run over a 3:37 time frame to take over the lead.

Hessling kickstarted the comeback by cherrypicking the Cavaliers down low, totaling all four of her field goals during Marywood's fervent rally. She consecutively picked up an offensive rebound, defensive rebound and then assisted a Tara Steakin 3-pointer from the top of the key to tie the game. Steakin bedazzled a Cavalier defender for a long-range jumper, completing the old-fashioned three-point play at the free throw line to give the Pacers a 49-46 lead with 71 seconds left in the quarter. 

After Cabrini briefly took the lead in the fourth, Giordano made a stop-short jumper at 8:23 to take the lead (53-52) for good. On the Pacers' next possession, Catie Nealon perfected a beautiful sequence of events. After snagging an offensive rebound, Nealon dished the ball out the Gerchman, ran a post route around the key, and punctuated a Gerchman's precise pass with a layup to extend the lead to three. The surge grew to eight points with a Giordano 3-pointer and a Gerchman jumper from Murray on the subsequent possessions. 

A Meghan Martin 3-pointer brought Cabrini within two points but Gerchman silenced the Cavs' song with a pair of plays at both ends of the court. She hit a jump shot to make a 62-58 game and stole the ball to allow Nealon to the line. Her, Steakin and Hessling combined to make five straight baskets in what turned to be five straight possessions that yielded a trip to the charity stripe. 

Marywood looks to stay undefeated in conference play when it travels to Neumann University Saturday. Live video, radio and stats are available at marywoodpacers.com.

 
Print Friendly Version