WOMEN'S BASKETBALL DOWNS MORAVIAN, 91-81, IN SAINTS INVITATIONAL
Nov. 20, 2011
BOSTON, Mass. - Junior forward Fiona O'Dwyer (Stamford, Conn.) posted a monster double-double of 28 points and 20 rebounds to lead the Emmanuel College women's basketball team past Moravian College, 91-81, Sunday afternoon in the consolation game of the 28th Annual Emmanuel College Saints Invitational at the Jean Yawkey Center Gymnasium in Boston, Mass. With the victory the Saints improve to 1-1 on the year while the loss drops the Greyhounds to 0-3.
With a ten point halftime lead, Emmanuel opened the second half with full court defensive pressure that translated into a 21-12 run, allowing the hosts to open up a comfortable 69-50 lead with 13:45 to play. They'd continue to press throughout the half, forcing the Greyhounds to turn the ball over a total of 16 times in which the Saints were able to score 16 points off of turnovers.
With Emmanuel leading 91-74 with 3:24 left in the game, Moravian would make a late push scoring the game's final seven points to close the gap before the final buzzer sounded with a score of 91-81 in favor of the Saints.
Emmanuel finished the afternoon shooting 50.0% from the field (21-42) and held a 52-24 advantage for points in the paint and a 26-4 advantage on fast break points.
In the first half over the first ten minutes of action the Saints came out of the gates on fire, building up a 25 point lead (36-11) fueled by 12 points from O'Dwyer but the Greyhounds weren't phased, responding with a 9-0 run to make it 36-20 with 7:20 left in the half. Some hot shooting down the stretch by sophomore Danielle Brogan (Oakland, N.J.) pulled Moravian to within 10 at the half as the guard nailed a trio of trifectas in the final three minutes of play to make it a 48-38 contest heading into halftime.
O'Dwyer's 28 points matched a career-high while her 20 boards was a career-best. Senior guard Meghan Kirwan (Melrose, Mass.) chipped in with 15 points while senior guard Breanna Ockimey (Philadelphia, Pa.) and junior forward Laura Benvenuto (Wyckoff, N.J.) were also in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
For the Greyhounds, senior forward Alexandra Blair (Hellertown, Pa.) paced the offensive effort with a team-high 23 points while Brogran added 14 off the bench, all coming in the first half of play.
Both teams will return to the court on Tuesday, November 22 when they hit the road as the Saints travel to Willimantic, Conn. to face Eastern Connecticut State University in a non-conference tilt at 7:30 p.m. while the Greyhounds head to DeSales University for a 6:00 p.m. contest.