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Gator Women Defeated by OWU
January 12, 2008
MEADVILLE, Pa. – The Allegheny women’s basketball team (5-9, 2-3 NCAC) was unable to make it two in a row in conference play on Saturday, as the Gators fell 77–52 to visiting Ohio Wesleyan (9-5, 4-2 NCAC). Emilie Simone (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) and Jill Gregory (Jeanette, Pa./Greensburg Central Catholic) led the Gators with 11 points each.
Ohio Wesleyan jumped out of the gate quick, connecting on 5-of-7 shots from beyond the arc en route to building a 23-9 advantage with 10:31 left in the first half. 
The Gators battled back over the next six minutes, using a three-pointer by Brittany Bell (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield) and a long jumper from Gregory on consecutive possessions to cut the lead to five, at 26-21, with 4:47 remaining in the period.
The Bishops came right back with a 9-0 run capped by a Steffi Graf jumper at the 2:43 mark to re-build their advantage to 14, at 35-21. Allegheny was unable to make up any ground throughout the remainder of the half and went in the locker room trailing by 15, at 42-27.
Allegheny opened the second half on a 6-0 run capped by a Bell layup with 16:24 left to play to cut the deficit to nine. The Bishops quickly answered and increased their lead to 16 over the next two minutes. The Gators got as close as 10 on several other occasions but saw Ohio Wesleyan answer each time. Eventually, the Bishops pulled away, outscoring the Blue and Gold by 10 in the second period to earn the 77-52 final.
Aside from the 11-point efforts by Simone and Gregory, Shannon Culbreath (Columbus, Ohio/Eastmoor Academy) chipped in with nine points and a game-best eight boards for the Gators. Ohio Wesleyan was led by Graf, who scored a game-high 24 points to go along with five boards.
The Bishops outshot the Gators .441 to .328 and held a 44-38 advantage on the boards. Ohio Wesleyan also shot .524 (11-of-21) from three-point range compared to only .286 (2-of-7) for Allegheny.
The Gators return to action on Wednesday, January 16 with a road contest at Oberlin. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.