Senior Mariah Mouzon (Elmira, NY/Elmira Free Academy) scored 13 points and became just the 10th student-athlete in Keuka College women's basketball history to score 1,000 career points as the Storm closed the regular season with an 81-57 win over Wells College Saturday afternoon in Aurora, NY.
Mouzon posted her eighth double-double this year, adding 10 rebounds, to power the Storm (19-3, 16-1 North Eastern Athletic Conference).
By hitting the front end of a one-and-one with 51 seconds remaining, Mouzon reached 1,000 career points.
"It is definitely a relief to reach 1,000 career points. Coming into Keuka, I didn't think I would ever be able to score that many points in my career," a humble Mouzon said afterwards.
"Today was special. My family surprised me and made the trip to Wells for the game, and it just feels great to get this milestone and also help us finish off the regular season with a win. I was definitely nervous shooting that front end of the one-and-one, but once I made the free throw I just felt so happy and relieved."
Keuka earned the NEAC North Division regular season title and earned the No. 2 seed for the upcoming NEAC postseason tournament, which starts Tuesday and continues Saturday and Sunday.
Lancaster Bible College, the champions of the South Division, earned the overall No. 1 seed on the strength of a 58-50 win over Keuka on Jan. 7.
The Green and Gold receive a first-round bye and will play an opponent TBA in the semifinals at Lancaster Bible on Saturday.
Keuka has won the NEAC postseason tournament and represented the conference in the NCAA Division III tournament in four of the last six years.
"We're all definitely very excited to get back to NEAC's and see if we can defend our title. We have a lot of talent on this team, and I'm looking forward to the postseason," Mouzon said.
Junior Jessica Bandrowski (Center Moriches, NY/Center Moriches) scored 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting and added 7 assists and 6 steals while classmate Danielle Gravel (Sidney, NY/Sidney) had 15 points, 3 steals and 3 assists for the Storm.
Junior Taylor Szwec (Candor, NY/Candor) scored a season-high 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting and added five rebounds while classmate Casey Chamberlain (Perry, NY/Perry) added nine points and four rebounds for Keuka.
Sophomore Erica Pendrak (Utica, NY/New York Mills) had eight points on 4-for-5 shooting and added 4 rebounds and 3 assists for the Green and Gold, who shot 46.3 percent (31-for-67) for the game.
Keuka started red-hot and took a 10-0 lead after baskets by Mouzon and Pendrak and three-pointers from Chamberlain and Gravel.
Gravel connected on consecutive '3s' and Bandrowski added a layup for an 18-4 lead, but the Express answered with six straight points to pull within 18-10.
But the Storm had an answer. Bandrowski, Pendrak and Szwec each had layups, Szwec was 2-for-2 on free throws and Bandrowski added a layup to cap a 10-0 run as Keuka took a 28-10 lead with 9:07 remaining in the opening half.
Bandrowski added a basket and Gravel swished her fourth '3' of the half as Keuka took a 37-17 lead. The edge swelled to 21 when Gravel hit a layup for a 40-19 lead, and the Storm took a 44-21 halftime lead.
The Storm shot 47 percent (18-for-38) in the opening half, while holding the Express to just 27 percent (8-for-30).
Ashley Roser led the Express (12-13, 11-6) with 18 points and 12 rebounds while Kristen Ryan added 15 points for Wells.