BOSTON, Mass. --- The Moravian College women's basketball team fought back from a 15-point second half deficit to tie the game at 50-50, but the Greyhounds ended falling to #4 William Paterson University, 71-65, in the opening game of the 24th annual Emmanuel College Invitational Saturday afternoon at the Jean Yawkey Center in Boston.
Moravian, which is now 0-2 on the season and dropped its second straight game to a nationally-ranked opponent to begin the season, will play in the consolation game on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. while the Pioneers, now 2-0 this season, advance to the championship game at 3:00 p.m.
The Greyhounds would score first on a jumper from senior forward Alexandra Blair, who had a team high 14 points, before senior forward April Smith gave the Pioneers a 4-2 lead. Blair would tie the game for Moravian but Smith put William Paterson back in the lead on the next possession.
Smith, who led William Paterson with 27 points, scored her second three-point play of the game to give the Pioneers a 17-8 lead, and William Paterson led 24-16 after a jumper in the lane from sophomore guard Floriana Borova. Moravian scored the next seven points in the game with a three-pointer by sophomore guard Danielle Brogan and jumpers by Blair and sophomore guard Katie O'Rourke to pull within a point at 24-23.
William Paterson answered with a 9-0 run with Borova giving the Pioneers a 33-23 lead. Brogan connected on a three-pointer late in the half to pull the Greyhounds within eight points, 37-29, at the intermission.
Moravian was 11-for-32 from the floor (34.4 percent) in the opening half including three-for-ten behind the three-point line, and the squad was four-for-five at the foul line. The Greyhounds also had a 27-22 advantage in rebounds in the opening 20 minutes, but the squad had 18 turnovers. William Paterson was 14-for-40 from the field (35 percent)and eight-for-ten at the foul line as Smith led all scorers with 19 points at the intermission.
The Pioneers started the second half with a 7-0 run as a three-pointer from Borova pushed William Paterson's lead to 44-29. The Greyhounds would get back within seven points, 46-39, after the second three-pointer of the half by senior guard Hilary Murray. Freshman forward Alexis Wright would put back in a rebound off of her own miss to pull Moravian within four points at 48-44.
The Greyhounds would tie the game at 50-50 on a rebound and lay-up by Wright, and Moravian had several shots to take the lead before Smith hit a lay-up to put the Pioneers back in front for good, 52-50. Borova connected on a three-pointer to push William Paterson's lead to 58-53. Blair scored four straight points for Moravian, and a driving lay-up from junior guard Amanda Kreuder cut the Pioneers' advantage to 63-59 with five minutes to play.
Kreuder would hit another lay-up with 27 seconds remaining to cut the William Paterson lead to 67-63 but Pioneers' senior guard BriAnna Lucas made two free throws to ice the game.
The Pioneers were 13-for-27 from the floor (48.1 percent) and six-of-eight at the foul line in the second half while the Greyhounds shot 12-for-35 from the field (34.3 percent). Moravian did connect on four three-pointers in the second half, but the Greyhounds struggled at the foul line, making just eight of 13 attempts (61.5 percent). Moravian did finish the game with a 50-39 advantage in rebounds, however; the Greyhounds had 29 turnovers in the game while the Pioneers had 22 turnovers.
In addition to Blair, Moravian had three other players in doubles figures with Wright scoring a career high 12 points to go with nine rebounds as she just missed her second straight double-double of the year. Kreuder and Brogan each tossed in 11 points for the Greyhounds while Blair had nine rebounds, six assists and a pair of blocked shots to go with her 14 points. O'Rourke contributed six points, five rebounds, three steals and a pair of assists for the Greyhounds while Murray had six points and four assists. Sophomore guard Alyssa Hann added five rebounds, three points and a pair of steals while sophomore forward Laura Jordan added six rebounds and two points.
Smith had ten rebounds to go with her game high 27 points to lead William Paterson while sophomore forward Dana Jeter also had a double-double with 11 points and a game high 15 rebounds to go with five asssits and four steals. Borova tossed in 17 points with five assists while Lucas finished with 12 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals for the Pioneers.