WOMEN'S HOOPS OPENS GNAC PLAY WITH 49-37 WIN OVER NORWICH

BOSTON, Mass. – The Emmanuel College women's basketball team erased a five-point halftime deficit to open up Great Northeast Athletic Conference play with a 49-37 victory over Norwich University. The Saints improve to 8-5 overall in a 1-0 in GNAC play while the loss drops the Cadets to 5-6 overall and 0-1 in the GNAC.

Trailing 20-15 at the break, EC opened the second half on an 11-0 run capped by a jumper from sophomore guard Devin Rauh (Collegeville, Pa.) to give the hosts a 26-20 cushion with 15:34 remaining.

A pair of free throws from Norwich junior guard Aliah Curry (Windsor, Mass.) made it a four-point game (26-22) but it would be the closest the Cadets would come the remainder of the action.

A Rauh jumped with 13:01 on the clock game Emmanuel its' first double-digit lead in the contest at 32-22. Later in the half, a fast break layup from junior forward Lena Negri (Arlington, Pa.) gave the Saints their largest lead in the game at 44-28 with just over four minutes to play.

Norwich would close the action outscoring the Saints 9-5 over the final four minutes but it was not enough as EC held on for the 49-37 victory.

The action early was slow for both sides and after almost 11 minutes of play the score was deadlocked at 6-6 before Curry sank a free throw to put the Cadets on top 7-6 with 9:13 left in the half.

Trailing by two (12-10) with a little over five minutes remaining in the half, the Saints put together a 5-0 spurt highlighted by a three pointer from freshman guard Sarah Schemerhorn (Los Angeles, Calif.) to bump their lead to 15-12 with 4:48 left on the clock.

The Cadets would close the half strong, reeling off eight consecutive points including a runner in the lane from Curry as time expired to give Norwich a 20-15 cushion heading into the halftime intermission.

Emmanuel's strong second half defense helped the Saints complete the comeback as they forced the Cadets into making 36 turnover on the afternoon which EC was able to convert into 22 points. They were also able to hold NU to a dismal 15.6% shooting percentage from the floor (7-45) including just 10% from behind the arc (1-10).

Curry led all scorers with 21 points to go along with a game-high seven rebounds.

Rauh finished with 10 points, five rebounds and a game-high four assists. Negri chipped in with nine points and five rebounds.

Norwich is idle until Saturday, January 18 when they travel to Providence, R.I. for another GNAC contest against Johnson & Wales while Emmanuel hosts Salve Regina in non-conference action on Monday at 7:00 PM.