Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Mount St. Mary's
Women's Basketball Off to Best Start in 15 Years After 71-45 Win Over The Mount
11/24/2015 8:57:00 PM | Women's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Bucknell women's basketball team used a 32-6 run that spanned parts of the second and third quarters to pull away from visiting Mount St. Mary's in a 71-45 win Tuesday at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison won for the third straight game to improve to 4-1 overall, the program's best record since the 2000-01 season.
Just one game after one player scored 54 percent of the team's points in a 61-56 win over Manhattan, Bucknell employed a balanced offensive attack on its way to its second-highest point total of the season. Junior forward Claire DeBoer led all scorers with 19 points, while junior guard Megan McGurk and junior forward Sune Swart joined her in double-figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. In all, 10 players scored for the Bison, including freshman guard Rachel Dumiak with eight points and sophomore guard Jacquie Klotz with seven.
Bucknell shook off a slow start with the big run. The Bison trailed for a total of seven seconds in their previous two games combined, but found itself down 16-13 after one quarter to Mount St. Mary's. The Mountaineers increased their lead to seven (20-13) early in the second quarter before the Bison took control.
The Bison trailed 26-23 before McGurk tied the game with a 3-pointer. The shot came after four offensive rebounds, including the last by Swart, who found McGurk outside the arc. Dumiak followed with a pair of treys, and Swart finished a fastbreak with a layup to give the Bison a 34-23 lead. That lead didn't dip below double-digits the rest of the way.
“I thought the key to the game was that media timeout in the second quarter. I wasn't happy with the pace that we were playing at,” said Bucknell head coach Aaron Roussell. “We were playing slow, and I thought Coach (Bryon) Whitten did a great job of controlling the tempo in the first 15 minutes. We got a couple of good looks early that didn't fall and we may have started pressing after that. Defensively, we kind of lost our way, but we fixed it.”
DeBoer also led Bucknell defensively with four steals, giving her 10 over the past two games. She added seven rebounds and two assists, while being efficient on the offensive end with a 7-for-10 mark from the field and a perfect 5-for-5 day at the line.
McGurk did most of her damage from beyond the arc, hitting three of her four attempts. She also dished out a season-high five assists, helping the Bison tally 18 helpers on their 25 field goals. Senior guard Tyler Craig and freshman guard Kyi English chipped in with three assists apiece.
Swart's 10 points were a career-high, as were the eight points for Dumiak. Both players took advantage of their time on the floor, with Swart reaching her total in 17 minutes of play and Dumiak scoring her points in 13 minutes of action.
Jessica Harris led the Mountaineers with 10 points, while Alexis Carter was their top rebounder with just five. The Bison finished with a 42-26 advantage on the boards, winning the rebounding battle for the 32nd time in 35 games dating back to the beginning of last season.
Bucknell is back in action on Sunday when it travels to play Canisius. The non-conference game is scheduled for 2 p.m. The Golden Griffins, who will play Binghamton on Wednesday, improved to 1-2 with a 77-52 win over Saint Francis (Pa.) on Saturday.
