SELINSGROVE, Pa. --- The Moravian College women's basketball team needed an extra five minutes in its first game of 2016 as the Greyhounds posted a 95-90 overtime victory at Susquehanna University in Landmark Conference action Saturday.
The Hounds, who are 10-2 overall and 3-0 in Landmark Conference play, saw all five starters reach double figures, and the squad shot 51.4 percent from the floor (37-for-72) and 80 percent at the foul line (16-of-20) as the team played for the first time since December 12.
Graduate student forward Alexis Wright led Moravian with her seventh double-double of the season and the 49th of her career with 27 points and 19 rebounds to go with three steals. Wright became the seventh player in school history to reach 1,500 career points as she now has 1,503 points to go along with a school record 1,086 rebounds. Junior guard Morgan Calabrese tied her career-high with 23 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists while junior forward Camille McPherson had 18 points with 15 coming in the final 25 minutes of action.
Senior guard Samantha Caligiuri tossed in 11 points, and she added five assists, three boards and a trio of steals while senior forward Alesha Marcks contributed 10 points, eight after the intermission, and seven rebounds. Marcks' first rebound of the game just 1:50 into action was the 500th of her career, making her the 20th player in school history to reach the milestone. Marcks is now 19th in Moravian's record book with 506 boards. Senior guards Karine Polgar and Emily MacDonnell each hit three-pointers for Moravian's other six points of the afternoon.
Marcks opened the scoring just 17 seconds into the game and Wright would make the Hounds' lead 4-0. After Calabrese put Moravian up 6-2, Susquehanna worked its way back and eventually tied the game at 16-16 with 2:44 left in the opening period. Wright made a pair of baskets sandwiched around Polgar's and MacDonnell's three-pointers to push the Greyhounds out to a 26-16 lead, and another jumper from Wright had the Blue and Grey leading 28-19 after the first 10 minutes of action.
McPherson scored her only basket of the first half with a three-pointer to begin the second quarter, giving Moravian a 31-19 lead. Calabrese connected on a three-point play with the free throw at the 5:11 mark giving the Hounds a 40-31 advantage. Susquehanna scored the next 13 points to build a 44-40 lead, and the Crusaders headed to the locker room with a 47-45 edge after outscoring the Greyhounds, 28-17, in the second period. Both squads shot over 52 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes of action.
Susquehanna had a 52-47 lead 1:36 into the third quarter when the Hounds went on a 12-0 run. Marcks started the spurt with a jumper while a lay-up and free throw from Wright with 4:28 still to play in the period put Moravian back ahead 59-52. Susquehanna fought back and a jumper from Wright in the final minute of the third period had the teams tied at 63-63 after 30 minutes of action.
The fourth period was a back-and-forth affair. There would be seven ties and nine lead changes during the 10-minute quarter with Susquehanna's largest lead of three points coming at the 2:12 mark. McPherson would connect on a pair of free throws with just nine ticks on the clock to put the Blue and Grey up 84-81 but Susquehanna's Angie Schedler connected on a long three-pointer from the right side of the court with 2.2 seconds left to tie the game and force overtime.
McPherson opened the overtime with a jumper in the lane to put Moravian ahead but Susquehanna answered to tie the game for the 13th time at 86-86. McPherson hit a lay-up in the Greyhounds' next trip to the offensive end of the court and that would give Moravian the lead for good. Both Caligiuri and McPherson each connected on a pair of free throws and Marcks added one free throw in the final 52 seconds as the Hounds sealed the victory.
Moravian is scheduled to return to action on Thursday, January 7 when the squad travels to Drew University for a Landmark Conference game tipping off at 7:00 p.m. in Madison, New Jersey.
