READING, Pa. --- The fourth seeded Moravian College women's basketball team nearly upset top seed and host Albright College in the 2015 ECAC Division III South Semifinals Saturday afternoon as the Greyhounds stormed back from a 13-point deficit in the first half but a last second shot wouldn't fall as Moravian fell to the Lions, 61-59, to end the 2014-15 season.
"I can't fault our effort; we gave a hard-fought battle to Albright especially in the second half," commented Head Coach Mary Beth Spirk. "Unfortunately at the end, we got the shot we wanted with Alexis in the lane. I thought it was down but it rolled out. I was pleased with our effort, and we played hard."
Senior forward Alexis Wright picked up her 17th double-double of the season and the 41st of her career with team highs of 19 points and 11 rebounds to go with three steals and a pair of blocked shots. Wright completes her senior season second in school history with 948 rebounds, second in blocked shots with 204 and eighth in scoring 1,341 points. Wright also completed the season with a school record average of 12.1 rebounds per game, and her career rebounding average of 10.2 boards per contest is also a school record.
"Alexis was unbelievable, especially in the run at the end of the first half," explained Spirk. "I think she was frustrated early, and I thought she got hit a couple of times. But then I think she got a little angry, and it was kind of good to see. She really plays steady but something got her and she dominated the end of the first half. She had another double-double. She was disappointed on missing the final shot but she has nothing to hang her head about."
Junior guard Samantha Caligiuri added 10 points, five rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals for Moravian while junior guard Emily MacDonnell contributed eight points and three assists. Sophomore guard Morgan Calabrese had seven points, four steals, three rebounds and three assists while junior forward Alesha Marcks added six points, six boards, three steals and three blocked shots.
Freshman forward Trista Cunningham added four points while junior guard Marie Rossignoli had three points.
The first half didn't start well for the Blue and Grey as Albright scored the first four points of the game, and the Lions led 10-2 just over four minutes into action. Albright would push that advantage to 13 points, 24-11, with 7:07 before the intermission.
At that point, Moravian found its shooting touch, finishing the half with an 18-4 run. Wright started the run with her first basket of the game with 6:51 on the clock, and she scored five times before the end of the half including a lay-up with 22 ticks left to send the Hounds to the locker room with a 29-28 lead.
"Unfortunately, we got off to a really bad start, getting down by 13 points, but when we came back to take the lead at halftime, I was really excited because I told the team we only played about seven minutes and had a lead," stated Spirk. "I thought if we could play 20 minutes in the second half, we could win it."
MacDonnell opened the second half with a three-pointer to push Moravian's lead to 32-28, and the Greyhounds would lead 36-31 on Marcks' first points of the contest with 17:35 remaining. Albright would answer with an 8-0 run to build a 39-36 lead but another three-pointer from the corner by MacDonnell knotted the score at 39-39.Wright added a pair of free throws and Marcks hit a jumper to put up Moravian ahead 43-39.
The Lions had another answer and took a 47-45 on a three-pointer with 11:16 left to play but a 6-0 run by the Hounds capped off by another Macks jumper would give the Greyhounds a 51-47 advantage with just under 10 minutes left on the clock. Albright pulled within a point, 51-50, before Moravian ran off seven of eight points for a 58-51 lead. Wright hit a lay-up for the seven-point edge with 4:19 to go but that would be the Greyhounds final field goal of the contest.
Albright closed within two points, 58-56, with 1:44 to go before Wright connected one of two free throws at the 1:28 mark for a three-point edge. The Lions scored the next two baskets, the second with 32.6 seconds to play, for a 60-59 lead. After a timeout, the Greyhounds would get off two shots in the final 17 seconds, both by Wright and the second one rolling around the rim before falling out. The Lions would make a free throw with 1.6 seconds left to seal the victory.
"I felt we played hard for the full 20 minutes in the second half; we just missed a couple of easy shots," Spirk said. "Albright is a good team and they made big shots when they needed to.
"Winning 15 games is a great accomplishment that graduated all five starters. I thought we were in a lot of close games all season that could have gone either way. We had some good wins against some quality opponents. I guess the disappointment is that we didn't make the conference playoffs but to get here to the ECAC semifinals is a great accomplishment and we have a lot to build on for next year," finished Spirk.