YORK, PA – The York College women's basketball team opened up their Tuesday night game against unbeaten McDaniel with a 14-0 run en route to a 71-56 non-conference win in York.
The Spartans improve to 5-0 overall while the Green Terror suffered their first loss of the year as they fall to 4-1.
York's fast start featured some lock down defense as the Spartans attacked the Green Terror from the opening tap. The Spartans drilled a trio of three-pointers in the opening five-minute spurt while the Green Terror started the game 0-for-9 from the floor as York sprinted out to the early lead.
The Spartans pushed the lead to a game-high 19 points on a Kelsey Murphy (Olney, Md./Good Counsel) triple with 4:25 left in the first half. The Spartans would settle for the 38-21 lead at the break.
The Green Terror were determined not to led the Spartans run away with the game in the opening stages of the second half. McDaniel outscored York 13-5 over the first 5:04 of the half, trimming York's lead to nine at 43-34. York answered with back-to-back baskets from senior Kristen Haley (Silver Spring, Md./Georgetown Visitation), pushing York's lead back to 13.
McDaniel had one last spurt, outscoring York 8-3 over the next four minutes to cut the York lead to 50-42 with 10:15 remaining in the game. The Spartans would then outscore their guests 13-3 over the next six minutes to extend the lead back to 17. McDaniel trimmed the Spartan advantage to 10 two more times in the last two minutes of the game but York scored the final five points of the game to provide for the 15-point win.
Senior Brittany Hicks (Dover, Pa./York Catholic) paced a very balanced Spartan effort with a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds. Hicks was 2-for-6 from the floor and 7-for-8 from the free throw line. Haley led the Spartans in the scoring column with 12 points in 20 minutes of work. Haley blocked a pair of shots and grabbed two rebounds in the victory. Murphy was the third Spartan in double figures with 11 points on 3-for-3 shooting from the field including a pair of treys. Murphy also nailed three free throws, pulled in four rebounds, and collected three steals. Junior Shea Wassel (North Wales, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) added six points and eight rebounds in her 19 minutes off the bench for York.
Lindsey Nichols led all scorers with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor including a pair of threes and a perfect 2-for-2 showing from the stripe. Emma Wingerd added 11 points and eight rebounds while the Green Terror's leading scorer, Steph Perez, finished the game with 11 points. Perez was harassed into 2-for-11 shooting from the floor while she went 6-for-8 from the line. Nine of Perez's points came in the second half.
York struggled with ball control in the win as they committed a season-high 29 turnovers. McDaniel turned the 29 turnovers into 21 points. York scored 71 points despite attempting 15 less shots than McDaniel.
York finished the game shooting 45.7% from the field, tying their season-high shooting mark. York was highly efficient from three, nailing 5-of-9 for a 55.6% mark from deep, by far their best three point shooting effort of the year. York was also solid from the stripe, draining 24-of-34 (70.6%) from the line. The 24 made free throws doubled the previous season high for York.
McDaniel shot 29.5% from the floor for the game while they went just 3-for-20 (15%) from distance, their worst accuracy mark of the year from downtown. The Green Terror sank 17-of-20 (85%) from the stripe including their first 12 in a row.
York handled the Green Terror on the glass as York out-rebounded their guests 49-27, their largest rebounding margin of the year.
The Spartans now break for Thanksgiving before kicking off Capital Athletic Conference play on Sunday, December 1 at Wesley College. The Spartans and Wolverines tip off conference play at 1:00 pm in Dover, Delaware.