ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- The Moravian College women's basketball team had four players score in double figures including 23 points from senior forward Alesha Marcks but the Greyhounds were unable to overcome a strong second quarter by host Elizabethtown College as the Blue Jays earned an 86-80 win in Landmark Conference action Saturday afternoon.
The Blue and Grey, who were playing their final road contest of the regular season, are now 17-6 overall and 10-4 in Landmark Conference action, sitting in a three-way tie in the loss column with Elizabethtown and The Catholic University of America for second place. Moravian has already clinched a postseason berth.
Marcks moved up to 19th in school history with her 23 points improving her career total to 1,080, and she added seven rebounds, three assists and a pair of blocked shots. Graduate student forward Alexis Wright notched her 13th double-double of the season and the 55th of her career with 20 points and a team-high 17 rebounds. Wright moved into third in school history in scoring, now with 1,648 points, and she increased her school-record total on the boards to 1,215. Wright, who is now second in school history in games played at 116, attempted 14 free throws in the contest to become the school record holder as she has made 612 trips to the foul line in her career, and she also had three blocked shots in the game.
Freshman guard Maggie Melhem tossed in 12 points off of the bench for the Hounds to go with three steals while senior guard Samantha Caligiuri netted 11 points to go with four rebounds and three assists. Senior guard Karine Polgar contributed seven points, three assists and a pair of steals while senior guard Emily MacDonnell added five points and a pair of boards. Junior forward Camille McPherson had five rebounds and two points.
Moravian scored the first six points of the game with Wright scoring the initial basket before two buckets from Marcks. Wright made it an 8-4 lead before Elizabethtown scored eight straight points for a 12-8 advantage. McPherson and MacDonnell closed out the first quarter with lay-ups to tie the score at 12-12 after ten minutes of action.
The first two and a half minutes of the second period would go back-and-forth with Moravian leading 20-19 on a three-pointer by Polgar at the 7:23 mark. The Blue Jays then went on a 16-4 run to open a 35-24 lead with 2:59 before the intermission. Marcks hit a pair of free throws with 15 ticks on the clock as the Greyhounds cut the lead down to 40-33 at halftime.
Moravian had a strong third quarter, especially the final four minutes of the period that saw the Greyhounds cut an 11-point deficit down to just two points, 59-57, on a Caligiuri lay-up with just 11 seconds left in the period. Elizabethtown made a pair of last second free throws to lead 61-57 after 30 minutes of action.
The teams traded baskets and free throws throughout the fourth quarter. The Blue Jays led by as many as nine points, 73-64, before a 7-0 run by the Greyhounds cut the deficit back to two points, 73-71, on another Caligiuri lay-up with 3:01 to play. Moravian was unable to get any closer in the final three minutes.
The Greyhounds entered the game second in the nation in free throw percentage, making 77.9 percent of their attempts from the charity stripe this season; however, Moravian made just 20-of-34 attempts Saturday versus the Blue Jays.
The Hounds are scheduled to return to action on Monday, February 15 in a Landmark Conference game versus The United States Merchant Marine Academy with tip-off slated for 7:00 p.m. in Johnston Hall.