ARLINGTON, VA - The York College women's basketball team suffered a 53-44 loss on Wednesday evening at Marymount in a Capital Athletic Conference matchup. The Spartans fall two games out of first place as their three-game win streak got snapped.
With the loss, the Spartans are now 16-5 overall and 5-3 in the CAC. The Saints improve to 17-4 overall and 7-1 in the conference.
The game started out slow for both teams. The Spartans were the first to get on the board after Brittany Hicks (Dover, Pa./York Catholic) hit her first of two free throws. The 1-0 lead would be the Spartans only lead of the game, which lasted a mere 13 seconds. Marymount started to heat up on offense and went on a 5-0 run to go up 6-1 at 17:32 and would not look back.
Aja Wallpher (Ellicott City, Md./Seton Keogh) was called for two questionable offensive charges early on in the first half and the Saints were able to use that to their advantage.
The shots continued to not fall for the Green and White. Marymount went on a 12-0 run and found themselves up 30-13 with 2:35 to go before halftime. York would hit two free throws and end the first half down 30-15.
The Spartans 15 point first half was their lowest scoring half so far this season.
Opening the second half the Spartans and Saints both missed good looks. Kristen Haley (Silver Spring, Md./Georgetown Visitation) scored the first basket of the half at 18:59 and cut the Saints lead to 13. 30 seconds later Kelsey Murphy (Olney, Md./Good Counsel) drained a three from the left corner to cut the deficit to 12. The Spartans played a higher pressure defense in the second half and started forcing Marymount to turn the ball over. Haley had a nice steal at the 16:25 mark, but the Spartans would turn it right back over.
York continued to struggle from the floor; their shots did not seem to want to go in the basket. Every time the Spartans would cut the lead to 10, the Saints seemed to have an answer. The Spartans had a few big offensive rebounds and open shots at 8:00, but would not finish. Haley hit a turn around jumper at 6:03 and it would be the first time the Spartans cut the Saints lead to under 10 since the 6:16 mark in the first half. Marymount was able to push the lead back out to 10 with under three minutes remaining.
Despite the deficit, the Spartans battled in the last few minutes of the game. York was only down by five points with 49 seconds left, but with time running out the Spartans were forced to foul. The Saints sunk their last four free throws and walked away with the victory.
Leading the way on offense for the Green and White was Haley. Haley finished the game with 17 points and six rebounds. Close behind her was Hicks with 14 points and nine rebounds. Hicks also added three blocks and two steals.
Katelyn Fischer was the leading scorer for the Saints. Fischer scored 20 points and recorded seven rebounds. Also in double digits for the Saints was Kievanna Lacey with 12 points.
York struggled in all offensive aspects. The Spartans were only 31% (13-42) from the field. They faired even worse from long range, only knocking down 2-of-14 (14.3%) and went 16-for-27 (59.3%) from the free throw line. The Spartans also committed 20 turnovers, while the Saints had 16. York and Marymount both finished with 23 defensive rebounds, but the Saints won the offensive rebounding battle picking up eight more then the Spartans. Marymount would finish the game with a 41-33 advantage in total rebounds. The Saints did not fair much better from the field, only shooting 32.2%. They were 13-for-18 (72.2%) from the free throw line and 2-for-8 (25%) from long range.
The Spartans return to action on Saturday for an important CAC matchup at Salisbury. Tip time is set for 2:00 pm.