Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Basketball Travels to Delaware Looking for Fourth-Straight Win
12/7/2002 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 7, 2002
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TODAY'S GAME: The Bison carry a 3-3 record into today's contest after winning three in a row to get back to .500. The Orange and Blue most recently picked up their first road win of the season with a 76-73 win at Loyola.
Delaware comes into today's game with a 1-3 record, looking to gain some momentum with its second-straight win of the season. The Fightin' Blue Hens got their first W of the season on Wednesday with a home win over St. John's, 63-47.
THE SERIES: Before last year's meeting, Bucknell and Delaware had not met since November of 1991, but the former East Coast Conference rivals are meeting for the 22nd time in the history of the series today.
The Fightin' Blue Hens hold a decisive 19-2 lead in the series which began in 1982. Last year, the Bison held a 40-34 lead at halftime before Delaware outscored Bucknell 52-26 in the second half on the way to an 86-66 victory.
THE LAST TIME OUT: The Bucknell women's basketball team survived a late surge by Loyola to even its season record at 3-3, defeating the Greyhounds on the road, 76-73. Senior Molly Creamer had her third 30-point game of the season, leading all scorers with 32 points.
Bucknell led 65-52 with 8:34 remaining before Loyola started creeping back into it. The Greyhounds took advantage of a Bucknell scoring drought to get within four with 4:43 remaining. Fueled by four points each from Jennifer Mitchell and Shontrese Smith, Loyola outscored BU 11-3 during that four minute span. After a timeout by the Orange and Blue, Creamer converted a three-point play to push the lead back to seven, but Smith forced two quick turnovers that led to easy buckets to get it back to a three-point game, 71-68.
Two minutes later, the score stood at 74-68 in Bucknell's favor, before two more Bison turnovers led to two more easy layups in just over two minutes for the host team. Smith corralled a crucial defensive rebound for Loyola with 54 seconds remaining and the score in BU's favor, 74-73. The Greyhounds had two chances to take the lead after an offensive rebound and a ball out of bounds off of the Orange and Blue, but the Bison forced a shot clock violation with 2.3 seconds left to put a stop to the effort.
Loyola immediately fouled on the ensuing inbounds play, and Creamer went to the line for two shots with two seconds remaining. The co-captain calmly sunk both shots to give Bucknell a 76-73 cushion. The Greyhounds got the game-tying shot off at the buzzer, but it was short, giving Bucknell the hard fought victory.
For the second game in a row, the Bison led from start to finish, but it was not without a struggle. The Orange and Blue overcame a 50.0% effort from Loyola in the opening half to lead 39-32 at halftime. Bucknell converted on 50.0% of its shots in the second to finish the game at 48.1% from the field.
Junior Desire Almind scored 23 points for her third 20-point game of the season, while senior Kate Franks joined her in double-figures with 12 points.
