Boxscore
PHILADELPHIA - The Goldey-Beacom College women's basketball team defeated Philadelphia University, 72-64 in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference tournament quarterfinal round at the Gallagher Center on Tues. night.
With the win, the No. 3 seed Lightning have advanced to the semifinals where they will face the No. 1 seed in the CACC North Division, Nyack College on Fri. night at Caldwell College. This is GBC's first trip to the semifinals since the 2006-07 season.
Head Coach Jen Carleton earned the win in her CACC playoff head coaching debut by beating a veteran Philadelphia team that consisted of four seniors (six upperclassmen in all) with a youthful squad made up of mostly freshmen and sophomores and a few juniors sprinkled in, but zero seniors on the roster.
The visiting Lightning upset the No. 2 seed and defending conference champion Philadelphia Rams on the strength of four scorers in double-figures. Freshman forward Devonne Richardson led the way with 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Junior guard Janae Weldon (16 points, six assists) and redshirt-sophomore guard Jacinda Jones (10 points) each provided some clutch outside shooting while freshmen forwards Irene Hudson (10 points) and Akilah Sewell (eight points) gave the Lightning some punch in the paint.
The Rams held a 40-37 rebounding advantage, but the difference in the game was GBC outscoring PU in the paint 30-14 in the second half, 40-24 for the game. The Lightning also outshot the Rams 46 percent to 38 percent from the field.
The Lightning started fast, taking an 11-5 lead almost four minutes into the game aided by five early points by redshirt-freshman Ashley Rosario (five points, five rebounds, two assists). They forced six Ram turnovers in the first six-and-a-half minutes of play and led 13-7 when PU called a timeout.
Two free-throws by Jessica Romano would later cut the Lightning lead to two with just under 11 minutes left to play in the opening half but consecutive GBC baskets by Sewell and Hudson upped the lead back to six nearing the 10-minute mark.
Leading 21-16, the Lightning scored the next five points to extend their lead to 10 as the clock approached four minutes. Romano cut the lead to seven with three consecutive free throws in two trips to the line, but Jones answered right back for the Lightning with a three-point dagger in the corner to put her team back up 10. The Rams did end the half on a 5-0 run though, so GBC led just 29-24 at the intermission.
Despite their youth, GBC played with confidence to begin the second half. The Lightning went on an 8-2 surge after the break and led 37-26 at the 15:45 mark. A layup by Jones at the 13:23 mark gave GBC its largest lead of the game, 42-30.
With a 44-32 lead at 12:23, things began to unravel for the Carleton's youthful squad. A 14-4 Rams run cut the lead to two, 48-46 with a little over eight minutes left to play. But following a timeout, GBC pulled it together as Richardson sank a pair of free-throws and Weldon provided a big-time three-pointer from the top of the key as Goldey-Beacom went right back on a run of its own to take a 57-47 advantage with 6:05 showing on the clock.
From that point on, PU would only get as close as six as GBC made 7-of-10 from the stripe down the stretch to seal its second victory over the Rams in just a week's time.
