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PIKE CREEK, Del. – For the first time in school history, two Lightning players surpassed the 1,000 career points milestone in the same game as the Goldey-Beacom College women's basketball team stormed past Georgian Court, 81-55 on a snowy Tues. night in Wilmington inside the Joseph West Jones Center.
With the win, the Lightning evened their overall record at 7-7 and improved to 5-2 in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. Georgian Court fell to 0-15 (0-8 CACC).
Redshirt-junior guard Jacinda Jones, coming off a season-high 27 points this past Sat., earned her 1,000th point with the second made free-throw during a trip to the line at the 14:37 mark. She needed five points coming in, and she scored five of the Lightning's first seven points to give GBC an early 7-5 advantage in what was a slow start for both teams. She finished with a game-high 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field (3-of-5 from long-range).
The celebration resumed when Weldon nailed her first jumper of the second half at 19:23 for her 12th point of the night and the 1000th of her career. Weldon shot 3-of-6 from the field to lead all scorers in the first half with 10, and her first jumper of the second stanza gave her exactly 1,000 career points. She went on to finish with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field (3-of-5 from three-point range).
Jones and Weldon are just the fourth and fifth players, respectively, to reach 1,000 career points in the history of the school's women's basketball program.
Goldey-Beacom's outstanding defense in the first half was the story tonight as the Lightning held Georgian Court to 22-percent shooting and forced 16 turnovers, of which, they turned into 17 points. The Lions took just two three-point field goals in that opening 20 minutes and missed both. Meanwhile, the Lightning shot 37-percent from the field including 5-of-10 (50-percent) from three-point range, and they took a commanding 46-20 lead into the intermission.
The Lightning opened up the second half with an 11-4 run that began with a conventional three-point play by sophomore forward Devonne Richardson (nine points, seven rebounds) and ended with a steal and a layup by Jones to put GBC ahead, 57-24.
The lead swelled to as many as 36 (74-38) after a layup by reserve guard Lindsay Duck (nine points, two assists) at the 9:48 mark, but a 9-0 Lion run made it 74-47 with 7:44 remaining in regulation. The Lightning lead remained between 27 and 30 for the remainder of the game until two free-throws by Chinyere Ozuzu with eight seconds cut it down to the eventual final score of 81-55.
Statistically, GBC outshot GCU 38-percent to 27-percent for the game and doubled up the Lions in three-pointers (8-of-19 to 4-of-15). After committing 16 first-half turnovers, the Lions settled into the game and only turned the ball over six more times for a game-total of 21. The Lightning turned it over just 12 times and nearly doubled-up the visitors in assists (15-8).
GCU held a 54-52 rebounding advantage but GBC outscored the Lions 26-10 in the paint and had more second-chance points (19-16).
Both teams got exceptional play from their respective benches as the two teams' reserve players combined for 61 points on the night. GCU's bench registered 30 points as Re'auna Dorner and Samantha Foley scored 15 and 12, respectively, to lead the Lions offensively. Ozuzu was the only GCU starter in double-figures with 13.
On the other side, head coach Jen Carleton cleared her bench and used 12 different players throughout the game. Sophomore forward Irene Hudson, who has provided quality minutes off the bench for GBC all season, scored 11 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds in 19 minutes of work. Also, freshman guard Melanie Johnson and senior guard Amber Gullickson added four points apiece while 6-foot-5 senior center Megan Knowles saw four minutes of playing time and had her first blocked shot of the year.
The 26-point margin was the Lightning's second-largest win of the season and their 81 points was the most points scored by a GBC team since Jan. 17, 2009 when the Lightning recorded 90 points in a win over Columbia Union (now Washington Adventist).
Up next for GBC is a road game at CACC South Division powerhouse Holy Family on Thurs. at 6 p.m.
