Gators Fall to Bishops 69-57

Feb 16, 2008

BOX SCORE

DELAWARE, Ohio – The Allegheny College Gators held tight with Ohio Wesleyan, leading halfway through the second half, but could not hold onto the advantage against a team that now sits in a tie for second in the league. Allegheny (9-14, 6-8 NCAC) led by as many as seven in the first half and held a three-point lead seven minutes into the second half. Ohio Wesleyan (15-7, 10-4 NCAC) answered with a 10-0 run and never trailed for the remainder of the half in the 69-57 Ohio Wesleyan win.

Ohio Wesleyan reached the scoreboard first with a three-point basket before Allegheny scored six consecutive points, giving the visitors a 6-3 lead, an advantage they would not give up until late in the opening period. The largest first-half Allegheny advantage was seven, on two separate occasions, including with 6:14 remaining in the period. Six straight OWU points cut the deficit to one, before Allegheny scored four straight, capped by a Brittany Bell (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield) three-point basket, pushing the lead back up to five. The Bishops answered with a 7-0 run, taking a two-point lead at 26-24 with 1:12 on the first-half clock. Bell answered with her third three-point basket of the half, giving the Gators a one-point lead before the hosts ended the period on a 4-0 run, taking a 30-27 Bishop lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Bishops scored the first four points of the second half, pushing ahead by seven points until Allegheny opened a 10-0 run, giving the Gators a three-point, 37-34 lead six and a half minutes into the second stanza. Over the next three minutes the Bishops used a 10-0 run of their own to push ahead by eight points at 51-43. The Gators got to within five with two and a half minutes remaining in the game, but that would be as close as they would come, as OWU iced the game by hitting 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch.

Bell and Stephanie Wolf (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) each scored a team-high 11 points while Laura Magnelli (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area) added 10. Jill Gregory (Jeannette, Pa./Greensburg Central Catholic) just missed out on the double figure plateau with eight points as Emilie Simone (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) and Shannon Culbreath (Columbus, Ohio/Eastmoor Academy) added seven and six tallies, respectively. Wolf had the strong all-around game, adding eight rebounds and seven assists in the losing effort, while also tallying four steals, tied for the team high with Magnelli. Simone added six rebounds, as the Gators out-rebounded the Bishops by a 29-to-28 margin.

Ohio Wesleyan was led by a game-high 20 points from Steffi Graf, while Tyler Cordell and Katie Hamilton scored 12 and 10 each.

The Gators look to re-group on Wednesday night, when they play host to the Scots of the College of Wooster, with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m. at the David V. Wise Center in Meadville, Pa.

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