Box Score
SAN JUAN — Elizabethtown College women's basketball will be returning to Pennsylvania with a pair of wins after getting a sound defensive effort to beat Wheaton (Mass.) 58-49 Tuesday afternoon at the Puerto Rico Basketball Classic.
Winners against Sacred Heart (P.R.) Sunday in their first game of the tournament, the Blue Jays held a slim 31-29 halftime lead against a Wheaton team it was meeting for the first time in school history. Taylor Kreider's eight points led E-town (8-3) to the break. Kendra Beittel and Cheyenne Stonerook each chipped in six points in a half saw nearly identical shooting numbers.
The Blue Jays combined to go 12-of-33 from the floor (36.4%), while Wheaton was 11-of-32 (34.4%). The Lyons, which entered Tuesday's game 2-6 on the season, got nine of Abbie Brickley's game-high 15 points in the opening 20 minutes to stay close.
Offensive production would take a dive at both ends of the court in the second half, but the Blue Jays sustained their lead by hitting 3-of-7 3-point attempts in the half. Beittel knocked down two of those three 3-pointers, while Stephanie Ellwood had the other. Wheaton could not hit the ocean from deep, going 0-for-10 in the second half and 3-for-22 (13.6%) in the game.
Free throw shooting also favored E-town, as it held an eight-point advantage from the line at game's end. The Blue Jays were 16-of-24 at the charity stripe on the afternoon. The Lyons hit just eight of their 15 attempts.
Beittel scored a team-high 14 points, using a 3-of-6 day from 3-point range to get her to that total. Joining the sophomore in double figures were Stonerook (12) and Kreider (10). Kreider just missed her fourth straight double-double, but still grabbed nine rebounds in the contest. Stonerook was 5-of-9 from her post position. She collected six rebounds and blocked four shots in addition to her 12-point output.
Taylor Alwine came off the bench to score eight points in 23 minutes and Ellwood, who played a game-high 36 minutes, scored seven. No other Wheaton players besides Brickley reached double digits in the scoring column, though Gabbie DePalo (9) and Nicole Cullinane (8) came close. Wheaton held a 44-42 edge on the boards.
Elizabethtown won its third straight regular season game outside the Continental United States, dating back to the 2008-09 season. The Blue Jays commence for the holidays before returning home to take on York (Pa.) on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012, at 7 p.m.