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Gators Fall in Tournament Opener
February 26, 2008
GRANVILLE, Ohio – The Allegheny College Gators were unable to win their second straight game against the Big Red of Denison University, falling 75-66 in a game that is much closer than the nine-point margin of victory would indicate. The Gators (11-15) trailed by just one with 1:40 to play before Denison (16-10) hit a basket and then iced the game by hitting 6-of-6 from the charity stripe.
Denison opened the game as if they were going to run away with the contest, jumping out to a 12-6 lead four minutes into the game. Allegheny fought back, scoring the next five points to cut the deficit to one after a three-point play from junior Stephanie Wolf (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) just over a minute later. The two teams battled for the next four minutes, with the host Big Red holding onto a three-point, 22-19 lead with 10:13 to play in the opening period.
The Gators then reeled off an 11-1 run, capped by a Brittany Bell (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield) three-point basket, giving Allegheny a seven point lead, their largest advantage of the game. Allegheny kept the lead for the remainder of the half, including pushing the lead to seven with 23 seconds remaining in the half after a Laura Magnelli (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area) lay-in. Denison was able to close within five at the final buzzer when Carolyn Simpson hit a jumper as time expired, sending the Gators into the locker room with a 40-35 advantage.
The two teams dueled to start the second half, with the Gators holding onto a five-point, 47-42 lead five minutes into the half, before Denison hit a hot stretch, going on a 15-4 run to take a six-point lead seven minutes later. Allegheny responded to the six-point deficit by running off a half dozen points, knotting the game at 57 with 7:18 to play in the game. After seeing Allegheny make a run to tie the game, the Big Red reeled off six straight points to re-capture the lead with just under five minutes on the clock.
Trailing by six with 3:24 to play, the Gators fought back, scoring on a free throw by and a layup on back-to-back possessions by Emilie Simone, before Jill Gregory (Jeannette, Pa./Greensburg Central Catholic) converted on a lay-in, cutting the deficit to one at 67-66. That one-point deficit would be as close as Allegheny would come, as Denison’s Ellen O’Brien hit a jumper on the next possession, before a Gator turnover set up a subsequent run of six straight Denison free throws to ice the contest for the hosts.
Simone scored a game-high 21 points on 10-of-17 shooting, with four others; Wolf, Magnelli, Hilary Collins (Franklin, Pa./Franklin Area) and Gregory; each scoring nine points. Wolf picked up team highs in rebounds with six, assists with five, steals with five and blocks with two to cap her strong junior season.
Five Denison players reached double figures in the scoring column, led by 16 from Shaina Kaiser off of the bench, with Simpson and Sarah Perrine each scoring 12 and Haley Dalhgard and O’Brien added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Simpson pulled down nine rebounds, missing the double-double by a single board, while O’Brien dished out nine assists.
The loss ends the Gator season at 11-15 overall, with the team losing none of their current roster to graduation.