Boxscore
PIKE CREEK, Del. – A 20-7 run which spanned the halves and handed the Lightning a 39-26 lead early in the second half proved to be the key spell of the game as the Goldey-Beacom College women's basketball team hung on to defeat South Division foe University of the Sciences, 62-52 Thurs. night at the Joseph West Jones Center.
With the win, head coach Jen Carleton's Lightning evened their overall record at 6-6 and improved to 4-1 in the CACC. They moved into second place in the CACC South, a half-game ahead of Philadelphia U., courtesy of the win. USciences fell to 6-4 overall and 2-2 in league play.
GBC was led offensively by redshirt-junior guard Jacinda Jones (19 points), redshirt-sophomore Ashley Rosario (12 points) and senior guard Janae Weldon (10 points, five assists). Defensively, sophomore forward Akilah Sewell turned in a performance for the ages with a career-high 14 rebounds (11 on the defensive glass) and three blocks.
The Lightning did a commendable job defending the leading scorer in the conference and fifth-leading scorer in the nation, Caitlin Shaw. Coming in averaging 21.0 points per-game, Shaw finished with 17, four of which came in the final two minutes of regulation. She shot 1-of-8 from the field in the first half, scoring four of her six first-half points on 4-of-4 shooting at the free-throw line.
Both teams struggled on the offensive end in the early-going, but the Devils managed to take advantage of a 7:35 Lightning dry spell to take an 11-5 lead after a pair of Shaw free-throws at the 11:21 mark.
Sophomore forward Irene Hudson's pair of free-throws ended the Lightning scoring silence, but Shaw earned another trip to the line and sank both to extend the USciences lead back to six, 12-7.
But from there, the Lightning went on a 12-3 run over the next three-and-a-half minutes, culminating with a Rosario baseline jumper to claim a 19-15 lead at 6:08. USciences would tie the game at 19-apiece with consecutive layups by Becca Ruggear and Shaw, but a layup by Jones off a pretty feed by Weldon put the Lightning back up 21-19, and they would go on to score eight of the final 12 points in the half to take a 27-23 lead at intermission.
Out of the break, Jones came out on fire as she scored 10 of the Lightning's first 12 points to lead GBC on a 12-3 spurt to open up a 37-26 lead to start the final stanza.
The Devils did rally, closing to within 46-45 with 5:07 left in regulation on a 13-3 run, but GBC never let USciences tie or go ahead. Sophomore forward Devonne Richardson's layup sparked a 10-3 flurry by the Lightning to widen the margin to 56-48 with 2:11 left to play. Weldon came up with two steals and two fast-break layups during the run, one of which resulted in a three-point play as the Lightning held on for a second straight victory over their South Division foe, dating back to last year.
GBC outshot USciences 35-percent to 27-percent and held a 53-43 rebounding edge on the night. The Lightning also outscored the Devils in the paint, 28-14 to make up for being doubled-up in three pointers, 6-3.
Free-throw shooting, which figured to favor the Devils who came into the night the league's best free-throw shooting team, did not play a prominent factor as the Lightning's discipline on defense resulted in just 16 foul shot attempts for USciences. The Devils made 12 of those 16 and GBC made 11-of-17 attempts.
Next up for the Lightning is their first CACC North Division foe, Concordia College. GBC will take on the Clippers in Bronxville, N.Y. on Sat. at 1 p.m.
