YORK, Pa. – The Marymount (Va.) University women's basketball team picked up where it left off in 2016 with its first victory in the New Year, 10th of the season, collecting a controlling win in Capital Athletic Conference play on Wednesday night at York College of Pennsylvania, 63-54.
Now 4-1 in league competition, the Saints trailed for just a little over a minute in the 40-minute matchup, at the beginning of the game when the Spartans cashed in on a three pointer following junior Leah Hurst's opening layup.
Marymount quickly erased the deficit with a 12-2 run to put up a fast nine-point advantage, 14-5, with two minutes remaining in the first quarter. It's a trend that would continue for the blue and white, as the separation continued into the second with six-straight points to build up the Saints' largest lead of 16 by the 6:22 mark, 23-7.
With an explosive offense, the other end of the court was just as impressive for the Saints, holding the Spartans to single-digit scoring until five minutes left until halftime.
By the break, York worked its way back into a single-digit deficit, 28-19, but it wouldn't reclaim the lead through the remainder of the game. At the half, six different Saints saw scoring led by an eight-point effort by lone senior Kiki Laux. With terrific guard work for the full game, the statistics reflected that midway through the game with 12 total assists for MU including four apiece to Hurst and sophomore Tyffani McQueen.
The second half was more even on the scoring end, but the consistency of Marymount was enough to maintain its lead throughout to hold out for the 63-54 victory.
McQueen led the scoring as one of three Saints in double figures with 14 points, while Hurst and sophomore Abby Fisher added 12 and 11, respectively. Hurst, again, had another well-rounded game, pulling down five rebounds and a game-high eight assists. The junior has now dished out an assist in all 12 games this season including three games with eight.
The women return home for another league tilt on Saturday, January 7, hosting No. 8 Christopher Newport University. The Saints will look to hand the Captains their first league loss of the season with tipoff set for 1 p.m., in the Verizon Sports Arena.