For immediate release – 1/15/2015 - #222
DeFrancesco's 22 Lead Hornets to 87-58 Win over Spirits

WINSTON-SALEM, NC – Freshman Olivia DeFrancesco scored a career-high 22 points as the Lynchburg College women's basketball team rolled to a 87-58 victory over Salem College Thursday night.

DeFrancesco had a career night from long range, knocking down 6-of-7 three-point attempts in just 21 minutes of action. She added three steals to disrupt the Spirit offense.

The Hornets pulled away early Thursday evening as DeFrancesco and Shannon Allan hit back-to-back threes to put Lynchburg up 6-0 just over a minute into the contest. Following a miss on Salem's next possession, Sammi Goldsmith knocked down a jumper for the 8-0 advantage.

Salem missed their next three shots and turned the ball over once as Allan made a jumper, DeFrancesco collected another trifecta and Lauren Penley scored down low for a 15-0 lead with 15:47 left in the first half.

Lynchburg had its best first half of the season, shooting 60.0% from the field while going 5-for-6 (83.3%) from long distance. Meanwhile the Hornet defense held Salem to 32.1% shooting from the field to go into the half with a 46-22 lead.

Salem bounced back to outshoot the Hornets in the second half but were still outscored due to Lynchburg forcing nine turnovers and outrebounding the hosts 16-9.

Quantashea Lewis led all scorers with 31 points for Salem (2-10) on 12-of-16 shooting while corralling five rebounds. The rest of the Spirits combined for 10 made field goals

Allan joined DeFrancesco in double-figures with 15 points as Chaney Forbush and Penley shared the team lead with six boards. Goldsmith's eight assists now give her at least seven in each of the past three games. Thirteen of the 14 Hornets to play scored on the evening.

Lynchburg (9-5/4-1 ODAC) returns home for Alumni Day on Saturday afternoon to face Eastern Mennonite University (11-2/5-0) at 2 p.m.