The Moravian College women's basketball team defeated Landmark Conference foe Goucher College, 59-50, Saturday afternoon. Freshman forward Alexis Wright led the Greyhounds, posting her third double-double off of 10 rebounds and a career-high 21 points.
Wright would get the Greyhounds on the board first with a layup. Wright would put Moravian's first five points on the board followed by a layup from senior forward Alexandra Blair to give the Greyhounds a 7-3 lead early in the contest.
Senior guard Elizabeth von Ende would retake the lead for the Gophers with a three-pointer, but Wright would respond with a layup to give Moravian a 9-8 lead five minutes in. Alexandra Blair would extend the lead to 11-8 with two free throws at 13:27. Sophomore guard Alyssa Hann would hit two free throws with just under 12 minutes to go in the half as the Hounds went up 13-9.
Junior guard Amanda Kreuder would drive to the hoop and make the layup to put Moravian up 15-11 with 9:44 remaining in the half. Sophomore guard Sharnell Huff of Goucher would respond at the other end with a bucket of her own to make the score 15-13 with nine minutes left in the first half.
Sophomore guard Katie O'Rourke dashed through traffic to make the difficult layup. O'Rourke would come back the same way on the next possession and make the layup to put the Greyhounds up 19-13 with 8:19 left in the half. After a layup from Alexandra Blair, Moravian would push its lead to seven points at 23-16 with just under seven minutes remaining in the half.
With a layup from Wright would give the Greyhounds an eight point lead. Then a layup from Hann on the next possession would give Moravian a ten point lead at 29-19 with two minutes left in the half. The Hounds would end up taking a 33-25 lead into the locker room.
Moravian shot 44.4 percent from the field while the Gophers shot 28.6 percent from the field in the first half. Wright led the way for the Greyhounds with 13 first half points while Huff led Goucher with seven points and four rebounds.
Moravian would get on the board first in the second half with two free throws made by Wright. Von Ende would respond with a layup of her own to make the score 35-27, two minutes into the second half. Kreuder would push the Greyhounds lead back to double digits with a layup on the next possession.
Sophomore forward Erika Blair would push the lead to 12 points with 15:49 remaining. The Gophers would respond with layups from Huff and sophomore forward TaQuasia Lambert to make the score 39-33 with 14:19 left in the game. Kreuder would end Goucher's run with a layup of her own a minute later.
The Gophers would then get within five points of the lead at 41-36 with 11:43 remaining, but Moravian would go on a 8-0 run to put them up by 13 with 8:26 to go in the contest. Goucher wouldn't have much left as a free throw from Hann with 1:55 remaining would give the Greyhounds their largest lead of the day at 16 points. Moravian would go onto win 59-50.
Alexandra Blair racked up 12 points, seven boards, five assists and two blocks on the day. Hann had eight points and three rebounds while Kreuder has six points. Murray dished out five assists while O'Rourke had four points and three steals.
Leading the way for Goucher was Huff with a double-double off of 13 points and ten rebounds. Von Ende had 11 points, four boards and four steals while Lambert had eight rebounds and eight points.
Moravian shot 39.6 percent from the field and 81 percent from the free throw line while the Gophers shot 24.6 percent from the field. Goucher held the edge in rebounds at 46 to 39, but the Greyhounds forced two more turnovers than the Gophers.
The Greyhounds travel to Eastern University on Monday, January 9 for a non-conference game. The contest is scheduled for 7 p.m.
