Box Score
MEADVILLE, Pa. – The Allegheny women’s basketball team got revenge and they got it good. The Gators (9-11, 6-5 NCAC) posted their second largest margin of victory with a 71-46 win over Earlham (2-18, 1-10 NCAC) to avenge a six-point loss earlier in the season to the Quakers.
Allegheny outscored Earlham 17-2 in the final 5:48 of the first half to take a commanding lead, while allowing the fewest points by an opponent in the opening stanza to record its second straight conference victory. Brittany Bell, who scored seven straight points at the end of that run, finished with a game-high 15 points and four assists.
The Gators held every Quaker to single-digit scoring. Natasha Norman led Earlham with nine points, all registered in the second half.
In a defensive minded start to the first half, Allegheny kept up that mentality and built a lead that would not relinquish. With a slight 12-11 lead, the Gators scored 12 unanswered points in just three minutes for their first double-digit advantage.
From that point on, the Quakers only scored two more field goals and Allegheny shot 80 percent from the field (8-for-10) in the last six minutes of the half to take a commanding lead at intermission, 41-15.
The Gators did much of the same in the second half that they did in the first. The lead grew to 30 points in the first two and a half minutes thanks to a Emilie Simone layup and a Bell three-pointer, topped with a Jill Gregory jumper to make it 48-17. Earlham’s Kate Franks halted the five-minute scoring draught with a layup at the 19:10 mark.
Allegheny grabbed its biggest lead at 65-27 on a layup by Becca Bajkowski (Fairfax, Va./JT Woodson) midway through the second half.
Daryl Ford recorded a season-high nine points and Greta Pszenny blocked a season-best four shots.
Gregory and Simone ended in double figures with 14 and10 points, respectively.
The Gators return to action tomorrow against Wittenberg for the “Pink Zone” game. Tip-off is at 3 p.m.