BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College women's basketball saw an 18-point third quarter lead evaporate into a tie before pulling away in the final period for a 68-55 win over Susquehanna University in Landmark Conference action in Johnston Hall as the Greyhounds hosted their annual Play 4Kay game to raise money for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund. Junior forward Camille McPherson netted a career-high 26 points for the Blue and Grey while senior forward Alesha Marcks grabbed a career-best 24 rebounds, one shy of tying the Moravian mark for a single game.
The Hounds wore pink uniforms for the ninth straight year, improving to 5-4 in pink, and Moravian has led all of NCAA Division III the past seven years, raising nearly $75,000 for the Kay Yow Fund. Prior to tip-off Connie Rogers-Newcome, a lifetime board member of the Kay Yow Cancer Fund and the Board President from 2010 until 2012, honored Moravian Head Coach Mary Beth Spirk and the Greyhounds. Rogers-Newcome played for Coach Kay Yow at North Carolina State University, scoring over 1,000 points while serving as a four-year starter.
"The biggest thing today is we grinded it out and got the win," commented Spirk. "We came out on fire and that was nice but we were a little nervous coming out at halftime because I knew Susquehanna wasn't going to roll over. They didn't shoot well in the first half, and we expended so much energy. About the time that they tied it, we picked the energy back up. Fortunately, Alesha and Alexis came up with some big plays, and everyone else contributed, which is what we needed."
McPherson led three Hounds in double figures as Moravian improved to 16-5 overall and 9-3 in Landmark Conference action. Marcks had her fifth double-double of the season and 11th of her career as she scored 15 points to go with her 24 boards, and Marcks also had three assists. Marcks now has 602 rebounds, the 12th player in school history to get to 600 boards, and she is now 21st in scoring with 1,051 points.
"When I saw the stats at halftime, I saw that Alesha hadn't scored but then I realized she had 10 rebounds. She played really well and that is what she needs to do for us. She gives us energy and gets after it. If Alesha continues to play like that, we're going to be tough to beat."
Graduate student forward Alexis Wright contributed her 11th double-double of the season and the 53rd of her career with 14 points and 13 rebounds to go with six blocked shots and two steals. Wright moved into a tie for third in school history while playing in her 114th career game, and she is fourth in scoring with 1,618 points, first with 1,183 rebounds, second with 262 blocked shots and seventh with 204 steals.
Senior guard Samantha Caligiuri tossed in seven points for the Blue and Grey to go with three boards while senior guard Karine Polgar tied a career-high with four blocked shots to go with three rebounds and two points. Junior guard Morgan Calabrese dished out three assists.
The Hounds jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead, and Moravian had a 12-6 lead at the 6:09 mark on a McPherson lay-up. Susquehanna cut the lead to 14-13 before seven straight points from McPherson pushed the lead to 21-13 on a three-pointer with 1:45 left in the opening quarter. The Greyhounds were up 23-17 after 10 minutes of action.
McPherson connected on a three-pointer just over four minutes into the second quarter as Moravian's lead reached double digits for the first time at 30-19, and the Hounds had their biggest lead of the first 20 minutes at 39-23 as Wright hit a lay-up with just two seconds before the intermission to send the Greyhounds to the locker room on a high note. In the opening half, Moravian shot 40 percent from the floor (12-of-30) and 92.0 percent at the foul line (13-of-14) to build its advantage.
McPherson opened the third quarter with a lay-up on the Greyhounds' first possession for an 18-point lead, 41-23, but Moravian was limited to just six points over the rest of the period as Susquehanna cut the lead down to 47-40 after 30 minutes of action.
Susquehanna continued to chip away and eventually tied that game at 51-51 with 5:20 to go and again at 53-53 with just under five minutes remaining. Wright hit a lay-up in the lane to give Moravian the lead back, and the Greyhounds limited Susquehanna to just two points the rest of the way. The Greyhounds put in 7-of-8 free throws in the final two minutes to push the lead back to double digits and secure the win.
Moravian was 30-for-37 from the foul line (81.1) percent in the contest as the Hounds entered the game ranked second in the nation in free throw percentage at 78.3 percent (299-of-382). The Blue and Grey also had a 50-48 edge on the boards to help overcome a poor shooting performance from the field over the final 20 minutes of action.
The Hounds are slated to return to action on Wednesday, February 10 when the squad hosts Drew University in a Landmark Conference game versus Drew University with tip-off slated for 7:00 p.m. in Johnston Hall.
