Bucknell University
20-7,11-5Patriot
Army
15-11,9-7Patriot
O'Brien Records 1,000th Career Point in Women's Basketball's 79-51 Victory Over Army
2/23/2022 8:03:00 PM | Women's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Taylor O'Brien scored 20 points, including her 1,000th career point late in the contest, and the Bucknell women's basketball team led nearly wire-to-wire in a 79-51 victory over Army West Point Wednesday evening at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison won their fourth straight game to improve to 20-7, 11-5 PL, while the Black Knights fell to 15-11, 9-7 PL.
Bucknell, which lost to Army earlier in the season, led 25-8 after the first quarter and held a 20-point (42-22) advantage at the half. Marly Walls registered a career-high 19 points and tied her career high with eight assists, all of which came in the first half.
The Bison kept their lead at least 13 points the entire second half as they notched their second-highest point total of the season. Their largest lead was 34 points in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
Isabella King connected on 5-of-6 3-pointers in the game to post a career-high 15 points. Bucknell was 9-for-15 overall from behind the arc.
Kamryn Hall was the lone player in double figures for the Black Knights with 10. Cecelia Collins was the fourth Bison in double figures, scoring 10 points with three assists.
Bucknell was electric out of the gates, connecting on its first eight field goal attempts and its first five attempts from the arc. The Bison ended up finishing the opening quarter 10-of-13 (76.9%) while holding Army to 4-of-12 and forcing five turnovers. King and O'Brien were both 3-for-3 in the frame.
After holding Army scoreless for the last three minutes of the first, Bucknell kept the Black Knights off the board for the first 3:29 of the second to build a 21-point lead. Army was better in the second, going 6-of-13 (46.2%) with a pair of 3-pointers, but Bucknell never allowed the deficit to shrink below 17 points. Both teams traded buckets throughout the second, and the largest run was just four points by Bucknell.
The third quarter was Bucknell's weakest, as the team shot just 26.7 percent and was outscored 13-12. An 8-0 Army run that lasted almost five minutes cut Bucknell's lead to 13 with 3:54 left in the frame, but the Bison scored the last four points in the third to stretch their advantage back to 19. A Tai Johnson field goal at the buzzer put the Bison up 54-35 heading into the final 10 minutes.
End of 3rd | Bucknell 54, Army 35
— Bucknell WBB (@Bucknell_WBB) February 24, 2022
Bucknell saw a bit of a scoring drought in the third, but Johnson gets the lead back to 19 at the buzzer. Walls is the fourth Bison to reach double figures in the game with 11 points.
Watch: https://t.co/XpSjD2vbHL pic.twitter.com/EJDj5PYBQV
Bucknell was outstanding once again in the final stanza, knocking down 7-of-12 attempts from the field and 3-of-15 from beyond the arc. The Bison also sank 8-of-10 attempts from the foul line. 10 of O'Brien's 20 points were scored in fourth as she made the final push towards 1,000. She went 4-of-5 in the quarter and dished out three assists. O'Brien capped a personal 6-0 run with a jumper in the paint with 2:04 remaining in the game to hit the milestone.
Doesn't get much better than this 🙌 pic.twitter.com/REuT1JG31Y
— Bucknell WBB (@Bucknell_WBB) February 24, 2022
O'Brien becomes the 27th player to reach 1,000 career points in the program's history, and she's the first to do it since 2019-20. The senior also finished the evening with four assists, five rebounds and a steal.
Wall's has now registered eight assists three times this season. Her 19 points came on 5-of-7 shooting, and her three made 3-pointers were also a career high.
Another notable performance was Emma Shaffer's seven points, five rebounds and eight fouls drawn.
Bucknell has now reached the 20-win mark in six straight campaigns when excluding last year's truncated 10-game season.
Up next, Bucknell heads to Boston U. to take on the Terriers for a second time on Saturday, Feb. 26. The Terriers slipped to 11-5 in league play with a loss to Lafayette on Wednesday, and there's now a three-way tie for second place in the standings. Saturday's game is set to tip off at 2 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
