YORK, PA – The York College women's basketball squad picked a great time to put together their most complete game of the year as they rolled past Goucher College 79-35 in the Spartans' 2011-12 home opener on Tuesday night in York. The Spartans have now won three straight as they improve to 3-1 overall while the Gophers fall to 1-3.
The Spartans essentially put the game away in the opening 4:09 of the game as they scored the first 15 points of the game. It was a balanced run as April Sparkman, Kristen Haley, and Brittany Hicks each had four points on the spurt while Kelsey Murphy had triple during the stretch.
The lead ballooned to 16, at 20-4, as York converted nine of their first 11 shots in the game. The Gophers hit two straight to cut the Spartan lead to 12 but York got a three from Sparkman, pushing the lead back to 15. The Gophers cut the lead to 11 on a Brittany Logan lay up with 6:39 left but York held Goucher scoreless over the final 6:30 of the half. While the Gophers languished on offense, the Spartans put together a 14-0 run that took away all doubt as to the outcome as the York lead grew to 40-15 at the break.
Murphy got the Spartans off to a great start in the second half as she scored the first five points of the stanza, pushing the York to 30. York continued to increase the lead throughout the second half. The Spartan lead grew to 38 on a Haley lay up with 11:03 left. The lead would stay in the 30's until a Loreta Tonuzi triple pushed the advantage into the 40's. The lead reached as high as 46 before the Green and White settled for the 44-point final margin of victory.
Sparkman led the explosive Spartan offense with 18 points, 15 rebounds, six assists, two blocked shots and a steal in her 31 minutes of work. Sparkman's double-double was her second of the year and the 17th of her illustrious career. Murphy poured in 15 points on a very efficient 6-of-8 shooting from the floor including three triples in her 18 minutes of work. Freshman Taylor Santor made the most of her 11 minutes of play as she tallied 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting including a career-high three triples. Haley was the fourth Spartan in double figures with 12 points and seven rebounds. Haley was 6-for-10 from the floor while she also had two blocks and three steals.
Precious Kollock led the Gophers with 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the floor while she also went 2-for-2 from the free throw line. No other Gopher scored more than six points in the Spartan win. TaQuasia Lambert paced Goucher on the glass with six caroms.
The numbers were significantly in favor of the Spartans as York made 33 field goals to just 15 for their guests. The Spartans out-rebounded the Gophers 56-33 while they forced 24 Goucher turnovers. York turned those Gopher miscues into 31 points.
York finished the game shooting 44% from the floor after their blistering start. They made eight threes in the win while they went 5-for-6 (83.3%) from the free throw line.
The Gophers shot just 25% from the floor while they were 0-for-5 from three. Goucher did manage to convert 5-of-8 from the stripe. The Spartans also blocked nine shots in the game. York has now recorded 16 blocked shots in their last two games. The Spartans have now held two of their four opponents to under 25% shooting for the game.
The Spartans take a few days off for the Thanksgiving holiday before returning to action on Sunday, November 27 when they host Gettysburg College in a non-conference contest at Charles Wolf Gymnasium. The men's game tips off at 2:00 pm followed by the women's contest at 4:00 pm.