Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Loyola (Md.)
Women's Basketball Sprints to 70-49 Win Over Loyola
2/19/2014 10:51:00 PM | Women's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Bucknell women's basketball team jumped out to an early lead and carried it through to the finish on Wednesday evening, claiming a 70-49 victory over Loyola at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison, who play two of their last three regular-season contests on the familiar court, have been hot at home all season, and their victory over the Greyhounds lifts them to 9-2 while playing in Lewisburg. The triumph also boosted their overall record to 14-11 and their conference mark to 9-6, while the visitors sunk to 5-21 and 2-13 with the defeat.
Shelby Romine turned in the hottest performance of the evening, stuffing the stat line with 21 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals. The senior could not be halted by the Greyhounds, shooting 8-of-13 (.615) from the field, 2-of-2 (1.00) from three and 3-of-4 (.750) from the line. Junior Audrey Dotson and freshman Claire DeBoer also reached double-figures in the win, as Dotson scored 14 points and dished out a game-high five assists, while DeBoer contributed 13 points to Bucknell's winning effort.
Lauren Daugherty led the Greyhounds on both ends of the court, registering 11 points and grabbing six boards, while Nai Brown, who was averaging 15.9 points per contest in conference action coming into Wednesday's game, was held to 10 points by the Bison. Nneka Offodile also chipped in defensively, coming away with four blocks on the evening.
Bucknell sprinted out to an early lead in the contest, using hot shooting and gritty defense to open up a 25-6 advantage on Loyola with 6:14 left to play in the first stanza. The Bison defense was truly impressive in the opening minutes, limiting the Greyhounds to just 3-of-13 from the field before shutting them down completely, keeping them without a point for 9:35.
Daughterty got the visitors back on the board with a layup however, and that opened up a 10-0 run for Loyola which included two long three-pointers from Nicole Krusen. Dotson halted the streak with a crafty shot off a perfect feed from DeBoer, but the Greyhounds continued to make things interesting as the clock ticked down, and Daugherty drained a long-range shot to cut the Bison's edge to 27-19.
Romine answered with a three-pointer of her own however, and freshman Megan McGurk converted a steal into two points just seconds later, increasing Bucknell's lead to 13. Brown connected on a layup with 33 seconds remaining in the stanza, capping a spurt in which the Greyhounds hit five of their six attempts, but it was the Bison that headed into the locker room with a 32-21 edge at the half.
Bucknell shot 56.5 percent (13-of-23) from the field in the first 20 minutes of action while holding Loyola to just 32.0 percent (8-of-25). The home team also owned a significant rebounding advantage, pulling down 18 boards to the visitors' eight.
The Bison scored four quick points to open the second half, increasing their advantage to 15, but struggled to find a rhythm after that, as the first several minutes of the stanza were littered with turnovers and timeouts called by the Greyhound bench. After almost three scoreless minutes, Bucknell still led 41-29, but an aggressive Loyola defense had turned the game into a highly physical contest that forced both sides into early foul trouble.
The Bison maintained their double-digit advantage throughout the half, battling for every rebound and creating shots where they could, and the squad finally hit their groove again with just over five minutes to play, finishing out the contest with a 19-10 run that secured a 70-49 victory over the Greyhounds.
While Bucknell's shooting accuracy dipped slightly in the second half, the squad finished the contest at 49.0 percent (24-of-49) from the field and held Loyola to 33.3 percent (18-of-54). The rebounding game also ended in favor of the Bison, as they earned a 36-28 win on the glass. Six different players collected at least four boards against the Greyhounds, including freshman Sune Swart, who tied her career-high with five rebounds in 13 minutes of strong defensive play.
Bucknell will remain in Lewisburg for its second contest of the week, welcoming Boston University to Sojka Pavilion for a 12 p.m. contest on Saturday. The Terriers, who dropped a 69-44 decision at American on Wednesday evening, sit in seventh place in the conference with a 6-9 record and have played to a 11-17 mark overall. Boston University came out on top when the two squads met back in January, winning 86-58, so Bucknell will be looking for the series split and its first ever win against the conference newcomer this weekend. The game, and all of Bucknell's home contests, will be video streamed and available free of charge on the Patriot League Network.
