Bucknell University
24-9,12-6Patrio
Fordham
18-11,8-6Atlant
O'Brien's 35 Points lift Bucknell Women's Basketball to First Round WNIT Win over Fordham
3/18/2022 9:35:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Tickets to Bucknell's second round WNIT game at Drexel are on sale NOW! Visit the campus box office to purchase. A fan bus will be departing from the Sojka Pavilion loading dock area at 1:15 p.m. on Monday. Seats on the bus are $25 per person and are first come, first serve. Tickets to the game itself are not included. To reserve seats on the fan bus, email Todd Newcomb at tnewcomb@bucknell.edu.
BRONX, N.Y. – Senior Taylor O'Brien scored a career-high 35 points, pulled down nine rebounds and grabbed three steals to guide the Bucknell women's basketball team to a 73-64 win over Fordham (18-11) in the first round of the WNIT on Friday at Rose Hill Gym in Bronx, N.Y. Bucknell (24-9) is advancing in the postseason tournament for just the second time in program history.
Bucknell led for all but 27 seconds in the game and got up by as many as 23. The Bison shot 48 percent (24-of-50) for the game and made 5-of-11 attempts from the arc. They also made 20-of-28 attempts from the foul line.
Fordham shot 34.3 percent (23-of-67) from the field and forced 20 Bison turnovers. Asiah Dingle led the Rams with 19 points, while Kaitlyn Downey scored 10 and pulled down 11 boards.
Bucknell held Fordham to just 22.9 percent (11-of-48) over the first three quarters. The Rams managed just four points in the second. Fordham went on several runs late and got within seven points of tying late in the fourth quarter, but the Bison went 10-of-13 at the free throw line in the quarter and held on.
Marly Walls joined O'Brien in double figures with 11 points, and Emma Shaffer finished with nine points, 12 rebounds and four assists. O'Brien's 35 points came on 9-of-18 shooting and a 15-for-17 showing at the charity stripe. Her 15 free throws made were the most by a Bucknell player since Shelby Romine hit 19 in a game at Colgate in 2011. O'Brien knocked down two 3-pointers as well and provided a pair of assists.
Bucknell was strong offensively out of the gate in the first quarter, shooting 50 percent and hitting a pair of threes. O'Brien scored 10 of her points in the first quarter, including the first five of the game for the Bison.
The lead changed a couple of times over the initial three minutes of the first, but a Walls layup at the 7:07 mark gave Bucknell the lead for good. While Fordham went just 6-of-18 in the quarter, Bucknell committed six turnovers and couldn't pull away as the lead sat at 17-14 going into the second.
Bucknell was just 3-for-12 in the second quarter, but Fordham put together its worst 10 minutes of the contest and totaled just four points on 1-of-13 shooting. Nearly half of the Bison's second-quarter points came at the foul line (5-for-5).
Bucknell ended the half on a 9-1 run to lead by double digits for the first time in the game and enter the locker rooms with a 28-18 advantage.
Bucknell's run at the end of the first half turned into a 17-2 run as Walls hit a 3-pointer right out of the locker rooms and Bucknell grew its lead to 20 (39-19) over the first 3:16 of the third quarter. Walls scored seven of her 11 points in just four and a half minutes of play in the frame.
3rd, 7:39 | Bucknell 35, Fordham 19
— Bucknell WBB (@Bucknell_WBB) March 19, 2022
Marly Walls opens the second half with a bang! Bucknell on a 16-2 run going back to the second quarter, and Fordham calls an early timeout.
📺 https://t.co/eIjmqxuN8Q pic.twitter.com/olbz67fXQ3
Bucknell shot 50 percent (6-of-12) once again in the third and limited the Rams to 23.5 percent (4-of-17). Fordham was better in the second half of the quarter, however, and came close to getting the deficit down to single digits.
Trailing 43-22, Fordham used a 9-0 run to get within 12 with 1:32 to play in the third. Bucknell's advantage was 14 going into the final 10 minutes.
Fordham's comeback effort was fierce in the fourth quarter as it shot 63.2 percent and knocked down 5-of-9 attempts from the arc. Bucknell also turned it over six more times in the fourth, but its 8-for-12 (66.7%) shooting and 10-for-13 effort at the charity stripe was enough to outlast the Rams.
An Isabella King three with 5:16 to go put Bucknell up by 23 before the Rams scored the next 11 points unanswered to get back within 12 with 2:39 to play. The Rams got the deficit down to eight with 25 seconds left, but O'Brien went 4-for-4 at the line the rest of the way to win it. Shaffer and O'Brien combined to go 9-of-11 at the line in the fourth.
King finished the game 3-for-6 with a pair of triples and eight points while also grabbing six rebounds. Cecelia Collins posted eight points and four assists.
Bucknell will face Drexel (27-5, 16-2 CAA) at 6 p.m. on Monday, March 21 in the second round of the WNIT. The game will be played at the Daskalakis Athletic Center in Philadelphia, Pa. The Bison will go up against the Colonial Athletic Association's regular season champion and tournament runner-up, which defeated Norfolk State 57-47 in the first round of the WNIT on Thursday. They'll also face 2021 Bucknell graduate Tessa Brugler, who was a two-time team captain and two-time All-Patriot League selection for the Bison.
