BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College women's basketball team used a balanced scoring attack to earn its 18th win of the season as the Greyhounds defeated The United States Merchant Marine Academy, 73-51, in Landmark Conference action Monday evening.
The Hounds are now 18-6 overall on the year and 11-4 in Landmark Conference action. The Blue and Grey have clinched a berth in the Landmark Conference Tournament and are in a three-way tie for second place in the loss column. Moravian has just one regular season game remaining while The Catholic University of America and Elizabethtown College each have three conference contests left to determine which squad will have a home semifinal game on Wednesday, February 24.
"Bouncing back from a loss with a win tonight is exactly what we had to do," commented Head Coach Mary Beth Spirk. "We had to come out and play hard, and we knew that we were still short with Camille (McPherson) and Trista (Cunningham) out of the line-up and not being sure how much Morgan (Calabrese) would play. I thought we played pretty well. Initially, it was a little back-and-forth but I think we established and rebounded the ball well. We also executed pretty well, and we wanted to work on that. We played all 15 players in uniform. Now we can refocus. We have a couple of days until the season finale and Senior Day and hopefully we take care of that and see what happens with the other teams and hope that we can stay in second
Graduate student forward Alexis Wright led the Greyhounds with her 14th double-double of the season and the 56th of her career as she had 15 points and 10 rebounds Monday to increase her career totals to 1,663 points (third in school history) and 1,225 rebounds (the school record). Wright also had three blocked shots, a pair of assists and connected on all seven of her free throw attempts in the win. Senior forward Alesha Marcks was the only other Moravian player in double figures with 11 points to go with three boards. Marcks now has 1,091 career points (19th all-time).
Senior guard Samantha Caligiuri and freshman guard Maggie Melhem each scored eight points with Caligiuri adding four assists and three steals and Melhem grabbing three boards. Junior guard Morgan Calabrese, senior forward Karlee Corvasce and senior guard Marie Rossignoli all scored six points with Rossignoli pulling down five rebounds and both Corvasce and Calabrese adding three boards apiece.
Sophomore guard Taylor Freeman had five points, two assists and two blocked shots while sophomore guard Victoria McCaslin and senior guard Emily MacDonnell both had three points. Senior guard Karine Polgar had five rebounds and three assists in the win.
Wright scored on the game's opening shot for a quick 2-0 lead for the Greyhounds but the Mariners would eventually pull ahead at 8-6. Caligiuri tied the game with a pair of free throws while a jumper by Rossignoli put Moravian ahead for good at 10-8 with 3:56 left in the opening quarter. The Blue and Grey led 14-11 after 10 minutes of action.
Leading by just two points, 16-14, in the second period, the Hounds went on a 20-4 run to build an 18-point lead, 36-18, on a lay-up from Rossignoli at the 3:23 mark. Freeman hit a three-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to send Moravian to the locker room with an 18-point advantage, 41-23.
The Mariners would close the gap to 11 points, 55-44, after 30 minutes of action before the Greyhounds pulled away in the final quarter while limiting USMMA to just seven points over the final 10 minutes.
Moravian will close out its 2015-16 regular season on Saturday, February 20 when the Hounds host Juniata College in a Landmark Conference game tipping off at 4:00 p.m. in Johnston Hall. Saturday will also be Senior Day as the Greyhounds will honor their seven seniors.
