Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
American *
Bucknell Suffers Through Cold Shooting at American, Drop 72-60 Decision
2/8/2003 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 8, 2003
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senior Molly Creamer scored 26 points, and junior Desire Almind recorded her second-straight double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, but it was not enough as American outlasted Bucknell for a 72-60 victory in Patriot League women's basketball action on Saturday, February 8.
The Orange and Blue were without the services of senior Kate Franks, missing the first game of her career, with a hip injury. Franks had played in 108 straight games for the Bison, starting 94 of those.
Bucknell got off to a slow start, scoring only two points nearly five minutes into the game. The American squad capitalized on the cold Bison shooting, jumping out to a 10-2 lead before Creamer beat the shot clock with a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 10-5. Creamer converted two free throws less than 40 seconds later to get the Orange and Blue within three, 10-7.
BU went another four minutes without a basket, falling behind 14-7 before a Katie Hettler layup pulled the squad within five, 14-9. Trailing 18-11 with 10:25 left in the half, the Bison mounted a 8-2 run, including four from freshman Chelsea Smith, to pull within one, 20-19.
With the Orange and Blue behind 23-22 with 6:41 to go in the opening frame, the Eagles put together an 11-4 run that spanned nearly four minutes to match their largest lead of the half at 34-26. The Bison got within six on three different occasions in the last 2:12 of the half, but a basket at the buzzer gave the host team a 40-32 cushion heading into the locker room.
American opened up a 10-point lead just three minutes into the second half before Bucknell mounted a 10-4 run, fueled by six points from Almind, to cut it to four, 50-46, with 11:41 left in the game. The Bison went cold from the floor at that point, missing nine-straight shots to fall in a 55-46 hole. A 9-4 spurt got the squad within four, 59-55, with just under five minutes remaining, but that was as close as the team would get. American outscored the Orange and Blue 13-5 over the final five minutes of the contest to come away with a 72-60 victory.
The loss marks the first time since the 1997-98 season that a Bucknell squad has lost to the same conference team twice, other than Holy Cross.
Bucknell shot a dismal .294 (10-34) from the field in the second half on its way to a .333 (21-63) mark for the game. American cooled off to .343 (12-35) in the second half after hitting nearly half of its shots in the first (.484, 15-31) to end the game connecting on .409 of its shots.
Bucknell falls to 9-11 overall and 4-4 in Patriot League play. The Bison travel to Lehigh on Tuesday, February 11, for a 5:30 p.m. game against the Mountain Hawks. American improves to 13-8 overall and 6-2 in the conference.
