BUENA VISTA, VA – The York College women's basketball team used a big second half to roll past Southern Virginia University 77-49 in non-conference action on Saturday afternoon in Buena Vista, Virginia.
The Spartans, who are ranked 13th in both national polls, improve to 15-0 overall, extending the school-record for the best start to a season. Southern Virginia falls to 2-11 with the loss.
The Spartans got off to a solid start with a 17-7 lead just over six minutes into the game. The Knights cut into the Spartan lead, trimming it to a pair at 22-20 with 7:23 left in the half. The Spartans responded with a 9-0 run started with a Kristen Haley (Silver Spring, Md./Georgetown Visitation) bucket and ended by a Kelsey Murphy (Olney, Md./Good Counsel) three at the 5:41 mark.
Southern Virginia continued to battle, cutting the York advantage to six on four different occasions including at the half as York led 37-31 at the break.
The second half was a much different story. York opened the half with 10-0 spurt as they held the Knights off the scoreboard for the first 4:51 of the half. The Knights halted the Spartan surge by scoring five of the next seven points of the game. However, the Spartans blitzed the Knights with a huge 15-0 run that covered six minutes and gave York a 64-36 lead.
The Spartans pushed their lead to as many as 32 before settling for the 28 point win. It is York's sixth win by 25 points or more this year and their second straight 28 point win.
York was paced by senior All-American Brittany Hicks (Dover, Pa./York Catholic) as she notched another double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. She was a highly efficient 5-for-8 from the floor while she was also 6-for-8 from the stripe. Hicks did all her damage in just 26 minutes of work. Haley added 15 points, three rebounds, two blocks and a pair of steals in her 26 minutes of action. Point guard Aja Wallpher (Ellicott City, Md./Seton Keough) just missed a double-double of her own as she had 11 points and nine assists. Wallpher, the Spartans' school record holder in steals, added three thefts in the win. Junior Jess Selby (Upper Marlboro, Md./Calverton School) was the fourth Spartan in double figures with 10 points.
Morgan Hartvigsen led the Knights with 13 points while Shannon Romito added seven points and a team-high eight rebounds.
The Spartans shot a pedestrian 43.3% from the floor for the game including 6-for-22 (27.3%) from three. The Green and White converted 19-of-26 (73.1%) from the stripe.
The Knights were on fire from the floor in the first half as they went 10-for-20 from the field including a blistering 4-of-7 from deep. That dramatically changed in the second 20 minutes of play as York dialed up the defense and limited their hosts to 5-of-24 (20.8%) shooting. The Knights shot 34.1% from the floor for the game including 5-for-11 from three.
The Spartans forced Southern Virginia into 25 turnovers, turning those miscues into 28 points. The Green and White also controlled the glass, outrebounding the Knights 41-32 for the game. York collected 15 offensive rebounds, which led to eight second-chance points.
The Spartans return to Charles Wolf Gymnasium on Wednesday evening to host Frostburg State University in a Capital Athletic Conference contest. Tip time is set for 6:00 pm.