Boxscore
NEW CASTLE, Del. – The Goldey-Beacom College women's basketball team led by 25 nearing the seven-minute mark, but the visiting Lightning had to hold off a furious Wilmington rally in order to claim a 72-62 win over their crosstown rivals at the Pratt Center on Wed. night.
With the win, the Lightning improved to 9-7 overall and 7-2 in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference play while Wilmington fell to 2-15 (2-8 CACC). The Lightning have now won three straight games while the Wildcats have lost nine of their last 10. Goldey-Beacom has now won the last four meetings in this intra-state rivalry.
The Lightning's tenacious defense tonight led to a new CACC single-game record for blocks by one team as GBC recorded 17 blocks collectively, including a season-high nine blocks by senior forward Arielle Alford. The nine blocks by Alford ranks second in the conference individual blocks category, as she was three away from tying her own conference and career record of 12 blocks set on Jan. 20, 2009 against Bloomfield.
Alford also matched her career-high of 14 rebounds and tallied nine points in a terrific all-around performance for the Lightning. Sophomore forward Irene Hudson, the reigning CACC player of the week, again led GBC offensively, coming off the bench with 14 points. Hudson's frontcourt classmate Devonne Richardson (11 points, seven rebounds, five assists) and redshirt-junior guard Jacinda Jones (11 points) were the other two Lightning double-figure scorers.
GBC led 60-35 with 7:35 to go, only to see a late surge by the Wildcats cut the margin to 69-62 with 1:59 left. Turnovers and missed free-throws plagued the Lightning late, as they wound up settling for a 10-point win. Six of GBC's seven conference wins have come by 10 points or more this season, and the other win came by nine.
Danielle Thomas (28 points, 11-for-11 FT) had a huge game for Wilmington, and had support from Ashley Davison (14 points) and Erica MacFayden (12 boards), but they could not help the hosts keep pace once the Lightning got rolling.
With a 21-17 lead and 5:31 left in the first half, Goldey-Beacom blitzed the 'Cats with an 11-1 run, and went into the break on top, 31-18. The lead continued to swell up to 25 as GBC shot 53-percent overall and held WU to 25-percent.
Wilmington, who turned the ball over 27 times in a loss to Nyack its last time out, took care of the ball nicely, with 12 assists and just 11 giveaways, and the worst three-point shooting team in the conference managed to make a respectable 8-of-23 from long-range.
Meanwhile, GBC turned the ball over 23 times, but did collect 15 assists on the night. The Lightning also held a 45-38 rebounding edge and outscored the 'Cats 34-14 in the paint.
GBC, who is just one game behind Holy Family in the loss column in the divisional chase, takes on Caldwell College next at the Jones Center on Sat. at 5 p.m.
