FREDONIA, N.Y. – The Allegheny women's basketball team traveled to Western New York Tuesday night to take on the Blue Devils of SUNY Fredonia. The Gators started slow, and after keeping the game close at half, saw the Blue Devils pull away for a 62-77 non-conference loss.
Allegheny came out of the gate shooting ice cold, but made up for it by dominating on the glass and forcing a number of early turnovers. Still the Gators found themselves down early, until a 5-0 run by junior Ann Ryan tied the score at 9.
Later in the half a nice jumper by junior Daryl Ford on the left elbow gave Allegheny their first lead of the contest at 21-19. However, the lead would be short lived as Fredonia would come down and score on the next possession to take back the lead. Both teams would trade buckets the rest of the half, and momentum seemed to be going Allegheny's way when freshman Marina Scarantino stole the ball in the backcourt and put the Gators up one with less than a minute to go.
Fredonia, though, would drive right down the court and go back up one just before the halftime buzzer. Defense and rebounding kept Allegheny in the game, including two big blocks down low from freshman Kendall Hoffman.
After a rough first half, Allegheny looked to take control early in the second; unfortunately Fredonia would flip that plan on its head. The Blue Devils would come out firing, scoring nine of the first 11 points of the stanza to take an eight point lead.
Things would only get worse as the Blue Devils would hit three back breaking shots at the end of the shot clock to wipe away 29 great seconds of Gators defense. Sophomore Erica Restich would bring some life back into Allegheny, as she would hit a three mid-way through the half to cut Fredonia's lead to just six, but it was not meant to be as the Blue Devils would pull away and come out with the 15 point victory.
Ryan would lead all Allegheny scorers with 14 points off the bench, while junior Heidi Goeller added 13 points, going 7-8 from the free throw line. Restich and Ford would combine for 21 points and 12 boards as the Gators drop to 6-3 overall on the season.
Allegheny will hit the court next on Saturday afternoon when they will host Yeowomen of Oberlin at 1:00 pm.