St. Mary's City, Md. – Senior guard Pui Sham (Springfield, Va./West Springfield) sealed the St. Mary's College of Maryland women's basketball team's first 2-0 start since the 2007-08 season with a pair of free throws with eight-tenths of a second remaining in regulation, helping the Seahawks survive a second-half rally by the Rosemont College Ravens.
Rosemont's sophomore guard Dominique Sellers (Woodbury, N.J./Woodbury) fouled Sham on her attempt at a three-point shot as time was about to expire to send Sham to the line for three. Sham missed the first one but recovered by making the last two for the 73-71 victory in the final day of the Cherry Cove Seahawk Classic.
Senior guard Jasmine Jones (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg) and Sham were two of three Seahawks to finish in double-digit scoring with 18 and 17, respectively. Fifteen of Jones' season-high 18 came in the second half as she nearly scored of St. Mary's 34 second-half points while Sham was 5-of-7 from behind the three-point arc.
Rosemont (0-3) erased a 15-point Seahawk second-half advantage by knocking down 51.6% of its shots in the second half and going 11-of-13 from the charity stripe. With St. Mary's owning a 49-34 lead at 15:03, the Ravens went on a 21-4 tear over the next seven minutes to stake their first lead since the 8:28-mark of the first half.
Over the next four minutes, the two teams traded leads six times before Rosemont went up 64-61 on a layup by senior guard Ashley Montecchio (Aston, Pa./Sun Valley) at 3:28. Jones tied it up at 66-66 at 2:45 following an old-fashioned three-point play and then gave her team a three-point margin with 37 ticks left on the clock. Sellers struck for Rosemont with a triple just 10 seconds later to knot the game for the sixth and final time at 71-71.
Senior guard Joanna Murray (Reisterstown, Md./Franklin) notched double-digit points for the second straight game as Murray contributed 14 points while junior forward Sophie Pruden (Carrboro, N.C./Chapel Hill) grabbed nine boards and added six points. The Seahawks owned a 39-26 halftime lead behind 6-of-11 shooting from downtown and 21 points off of 20 first-half Raven turnovers. Sham led the way with a perfect 4-of-4 effort, pacing the team with 12 first-half points off the bench.
Montecchio finished the day as Rosemont's leading scorer and rebounder with a double-double on game-highs of 26 points and 11 caroms while sophomore forward Liz Coyne (West Chester, Pa./Downingtown West) poured in 20 points and nine rebounds.
St. Mary's will be back in action on Tuesday, November 20 as the Seahawks travel to Raleigh, N.C. to face the Meredith College Avenging Angels in their season-opener at 7:00 pm.
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