MEADVILLE, Pa. – The Allegheny women's basketball team flexed their scoring muscle in the second half of Wednesday night's 80-46 win against the College of Wooster. They were able to out-score the Scots (2-14, 0-6 NCAC) 42-16 in the period, propelling the Gators (10-6, 4-2 NCAC) to their third consecutive conference victory.
After holding a lead of eight points at the break, the Gators came out in the second half and really put the clamp down on their defense, pulling down 19 defensive rebounds, forcing 12 turnovers, and coming away with seven steals. The Gators were able to use the overall strong defensive effort to generate points on the other end as they netted 19 points off turnovers for the game.
The Gators were again superior on both sides of the glass. In their previous two games, they had out-rebounded their opponents by a combined 35 total boards. Against Wooster, the Gators nearly matched that two game output by out-rebounding the Scots 53-28 (+25) for the game.
Allegheny, which lead the NCAC in points per game (73.9) heading into the contest, had five players score double figures. Sophomore forward Heidi Goeller lead the way with 15 points on 5-of-13 (.385) shooting, but was a consistent 5-of-6 (.833) from the charity stripe. Goeller would add eight rebounds and four steals to her stat sheet.
Rookie sharpshooter Saddie Gravatt turned in a career-night scoring as she poured in 14 points on the strength of 4-of-5 (.800) shooting from beyond the arc. The 14 points and four makes from distance are single-game career-highs in the early career of Gravatt. Recently, she has also started to come into her own as a scorer as she earned her third consecutive game in which she scored double-digits. Over her last three games, she has shot 52% on 11-of-21 shooting from the floor.
Another Gator that has caught fire over the last three games including tonight's game has been sophomore Daryl Ford. She added 13 points and hauled in six (four offensive) rebounds. In her three-game surge she has bolstered her scoring average to 10.0 points per game, scoring 40 points and collected 27 rebounds.
Senior Jill Gregory and sophomore Ann Ryan would each score 10 points. Similar to Ford and Gravatt, Gregory and Ryan's double-digit outputs are their third consecutive as well.
The Gators will put their hot streak on the line as they travel to take on Denison University this Saturday, January 22nd. The Big Red are one of the few remaining unbeatens in NCAA Division III. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 pm.