MEADVILLE, Pa. – The Allegheny women's basketball team battled valiantly through an off-shooting night grinding out a 67-55 win over Hiram College at the David V. Wise Center on Wednesday night. The win gives the Gators (14-7, 8-3 NCAC) their longest winning streak of the season, currently four games, and is their seventh victory in their last eight games; a streak that began with a 78-64 road win over Hiram on January 12th.
The first half was one marred by miscues and missed shots by both teams. The two teams shot under 32% in the half and traded 21 turnovers. The Terriers (12-10, 4-7 NCAC) were able to jump out a lead as large as eight points about halfway through the opening frame thanks in large part to knocking down three trifectas in that time, including treys on back-to-back possessions. The Gators would endure the early lead and began to battle back the remainder of the half, pulling the game to a two-point margin 26-28 at the break.
Rookie guard Erica Restich was a major spark for the Gators off the bench in the first half. Restich, who has been on fire in her last four games averaging 17.0 points per game, scored 11 first-half points on 2-of-2 shooting from the floor and 6-of-7 seven from the charity stripe en route to setting a new single-game scoring high of 19 points.
The Gators would come out of the break and go on a 6-0 run over the first 2:15 of the second half, taking a four-point lead. The Terriers would close the gap and took a 38-37 lead with 14:17 remaining in the game. The lead, which turned out to be the last lead for the Terriers, was short-lived as Restich hit a go-ahead three-pointer less than a minute later.
Allegheny would slowly build a bigger lead by way of perhaps the biggest strength of the team, their success rate at the free-throw line. Down the stretch, the 15th ranked team in Division III knocked down 20-of-21 (95%) second-half free-throws. Five Gators did not miss from the line in the final 20 minutes, including sophomore Ann Ryan's flawless 8-of-8 effort.
For the fourth game in a row, the Gators had at least four reach double figures. Restich led all scorers with her 19 points. Sophomore Heidi Goeller's night was par for her course in terms of scoring as she poured in 14 points and added 11 rebounds for her second double-double of the season. Ryan and senior Jill Gregory would each add 10 points.
The streaking Gators will look to be the first team this season to knock off USA TODAY/ESPN no. 11 Denison University (22-0, 11-0 NCAC) on Saturday, February 12th in the friendly confines of the David V. Wise Center. There will be a pre-game presentation to honor the five seniors on the 2010-11 squad. In addition, the game will be a "Gold Rush" event for the students and members of the campus community.