Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Cornell
Bucknell Women's Basketball Earns Quality 56-45 Win Over Cornell
1/7/2009 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 7, 2009
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell women's basketball team won its fourth consecutive game Wednesday night, defeating Cornell, 56-45, at Sojka Pavilion and earning its longest winning streak of the season. The senior duo of Lauren Schober (Chicago, Ill./Regina Dominican) and Amanda Brown (Richardson, Texas/L.V. Berkner) led the Bison (8-5) with 15 points apiece, and Schober added a career-high seven steals, six of which came in the first half.
After managing to obtain the lead for a single point in the opening 20 minutes, Bucknell made its biggest dent in the Cornell (4-8) defense midway through the second half. The Orange and Blue hit eight of nine free throw attempts between the 12- and six-minute marks on a night when the team tied its season records for free throws.
Although Bucknell finished the second half 14-for-19 from the charity stripe, its 1-for-4 performance in the first half was more indicative of the team's luck in the game's opening minutes. The Bison took three minutes to tally their first points, but with a pair of quick scores from Brown, they found themselves trailing by just a single point.
Brown continued with the hot hand throughout the half, posting 13 points by the halftime buzzer, but Schober contributed on the defensive end of the court. The forward turned many of her six steals into offensive opportunities for her team. With 14:47 to play, Schober's swipe ended with a fastbreak layup for her first points of the game. Morgan Wrightson (Gaithersburg, Md./Notre Dame Academy) was the benefactor of her elder teammate's steal later in the half, getting two hard-earned points in the paint.
Cosima Higham (Brooklyn, N.Y./Poly Prep Country Day) gave Bucknell its only advantage of the first half with a free throw at 13:09, but Cornell's Allie Fedorowicz hit one of her four three-point shots on the next possession to quickly regain the lead.
Cornell led by as many as eight points in the first half, but Bucknell kept chipping away at the Big Red, never allowing them to get out of striking distance. Brown sent the team into the locker room down by just two after hitting a jumper from the corner with nine seconds to play. Despite getting only four minutes from Higham and six from Joyce Novacek (Aliquippa, Pa./Hopewell) in the opening stanza because of foul trouble, the Bison entered halftime down 27-25.
Cornell struck first again in the second half off a three-point shot by Lauren Benson, but Novacek made up for lost time, scoring back-to-back layups to bring the Bison back to within one.
On the team's next offensive possession, Schober finished a three-point play at 17:57 to give Bucknell its second lead of the game, 32-30. The Big Red's Shannan Scarsaletta put a stop to the Bison's mini-run with a layup and tied the game for the second time of the night.
The effort proved to be too little, however, as the Bison freshmen made their presence known. Trisha Krewson (Sandusky, Ohio/Perkins) hit a free throw, and Wrightson connected for a fastbreak jumper off an assist from Christina Chukwuedo (Monessen, Pa./Monessen), putting Bucknell up 35-32 with 13:11 to play. Cornell began to struggle with fouls from that point on and put Bucknell on the line for its solid run free throws. At 8:48, Chukwuedo completed an 18-4 Bison run with a putback that resulted in a foul and the extra point.
Bucknell never looked back as it handed Cornell its sixth road loss of the season. With just over a minute to go, Krewson hit her second free throw of the night, giving her team its biggest lead at 56-40. Although the Big Red rattled off five quick points in the final sixty seconds, Bucknell finished smoothly with an 11-point win, its third straight game with a double-digit margin of victory.
Trailing Schober and Brown's 15 points were Wrightson and Chukwuedo with six apiece. Schober's seven steals broke her previous career high of five, set in 2006 against Army. Higham led the team with nine rebounds, helping the Bison to outrebound yet another opponent, 39-36.
Fedorowicz led Cornell in scoring with 18 points, followed closely by Scarselleta with 15. Fedorowicz also had 12 rebounds on the night.
Bucknell is back in action for its Patriot League opener on Saturday, Jan. 10 when it takes on Navy at 7 p.m. in Sojka Pavilion.
