MEADVILLE, Pa. – The Allegheny women's basketball squad took to the court for their regular season finale on Saturday afternoon, as they played host to the Ladies of Kenyon College. Both teams came into today's matchup tied for second in the conference standings with identical 10-5 NCAC records; however, an 11 win was not in the cards for the Gators as they would fall to the Ladies 66-77.
Both teams played extremely well in the first half, as each squad would shoot north of 40 percent from the field. Allegheny would take an early five point lead, after a jumper by Becca Bajkowski made it 10-5 just 3:36 into the contest.
The five point cushion would be the largest by either team in the opening stanza, as neither team was able to pull away. Junior Heidi Goeller would hit a layup with 32 seconds remaining to give Allegheny a one point lead going into halftime. It was the eighth lead change of the game to that point, while there were also seven ties.
The Gators would also get out to a good start in the second half as well, sparked by freshman Kendall Hoffman blocking Kenyon's first two shots of the half. However, offensively Allegheny would not fare as well.
The Gators offense sputtered as Kenyon took a seven point lead. A Hoffman free throw would cut it to six at the 14:10 mark; but an over four minute scoring drought would see the Kenyon lead balloon to 12.
Allegheny would keep battling, and a pair of Daryl Ford free throws would get the deficit into single digits again, cutting Kenyon's lead to eight. However, the Ladies defense and lights out shooting would be too much for the Gators to handle, as Kenyon would take the regular season finale 77-66.
Goeller, who was playing in her final regular season home game for Allegheny, as she will be attending Chatham University next fall, had another stellar game for the Gators scoring 22 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out four assists. It was the fifth game in a row the Heidi has scored at least 20 points, as she now sits just 21 points away from becoming the 12 girl in program history to score 1,000 points.
Ford would add 21 points of her own, while Hoffman would chip in with 11 points, nine boards and two blocks as Allegheny finishes the regular season with a 15-10 record overall and 10-6 in conference play. Despite the loss, the Gators clinched the four seed in the NCAC tournament, securing home court advantage for the first round.
Allegheny will host the fifth place Wittenberg Tigers on Tuesday, February 21 at 7:30 pm.