BIDDEFORD, Maine --- The Moravian College women's basketball team went into a loud Harold Alfond Forum and knocked off No. 15 and host The University of New England, 70-60, in the opening round of the 2016 NCAA Division III Tournament Friday evening ending the Nor'easters 20-game home winning streak.
With the victory, the Greyhounds advance to the Second Round on Saturday, March 5 versus No. 7 Tufts University, a 61-49 winner over Regis (Mass.) College in Friday's other First Round game. The win improves the Hounds to 20-7 on the year, the 18th 20-win season in school history, and it was also the program's first NCAA Tournament win since 1992-93, snapping a five-game losing streak in tournament action.
"It was an amazing environment to play but to go in with the lead at halftime kind of took the crowd out of the game. I thought that was really big for us," commented Head Coach Mary Beth Spirk, who improves to 8-8 all-time in NCAA Tournament games. "I was pleased with our effort and focus right from the start."
Junior guard Camille McPherson led a trio of Greyhounds in double figures with 23 points to go along with nine rebounds. McPherson was 13-for-13 at the foul line to help Moravian, ranked second in the nation in free throw percentage entering the tournament, go 28-for-33 (84.8 percent) at the charity stipe.
"We have been shooting foul shots for most of the season pretty well," noted Spirk. "It is no surprise. Camille was 13-for-13, and the person that did really well was Sam Caligiuri since she is usually not one of our best foul shooters but she hit some big shots there. That is a credit to these guys. They went to the basket and drew fouls. That was key because it took some of their starters out of the game for huge minutes."
Graduate student forward Alexis Wright had her 17th double-double of the season and the 58th of her career with 16 points and a game-high 14 rebounds to go along with two steals. Wright tied the school record with her 120th career game played and became the third player in school history to reach 1,700 career points now at 1,702. Wright also increased her school record rebound total to 1,265 boards and moved into a tie for sixth with 211 career steals.
"I felt like we were the underdogs so we went out there with nothing to lose," stated Wright. "We just went out and played our game and didn't worry about the crowd. We had a lot of energy from the bench and everyone on the floor."
Senior guard Samantha Caligiuri netted 11 points while making 7-of-9 free throws, and senior forward Alesha Marcks had eight points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. Junior guard Morgan Calabrese and sophomore forward Trista Cunningham each had four points and three rebounds while freshman guard Maggie Melhem had five rebounds and two points. Senior guard Karine Polgar had two points while senior guard Emily MacDonnell had two assists and a board.
"Our goal is to just go out there and work hard and that led to us getting rebounds tonight," commented Marcks on the Hounds 50-36 advantage on the boards. "We always want to win the rebound battle and that is what we did tonight especially at key points in the game. That is what really helped us tonight."
The Hounds jumped out to a 4-0 lead on baskets from Caligiuri and Marcks in the first 3:07 of action. Moravian had a 13-9 lead after a three-pointer from McPherson with one minute to play in the first quarter, and the Greyhounds lead 15-13 after the first 10 minutes of action.
Wright pushed the Moravian lead to six points, 21-15, with 7:05 left in the second quarter on a drive down the left side of the lane. McPherson hit a put-back lay-up with 4:05 on the clock to give the Greyhounds a 27-20 advantage, and Wright pushed the lead to double digits at 32-22 with 1:25 before the intermission. Wright added another basket as the Blue and Grey headed to the locker room with a 34-22 advantage.
Wright hit two free throws to start the scoring in the second half as Moravian moved ahead 36-29. UNE then scored five straight to cut the lead to 36-28, and the Nor'easters pulled within four points, 38-34, with 3:14 left in the third quarter. The Greyhounds answered back and led 46-38 after 30 minutes of action.
Wright started the scoring again in the fourth quarter with two free throws as the lead went back to double digits, 48-38, and Cunningham pushed the lead to 52-40 with a lay-up at the 8:31 mark. McPherson connected on a three-point play to give the Hounds a 57-45 lead with 5:23 remaining. McPherson connected on all six of her free throws in the final 18 seconds and Caligiuri was 5-of-6 in the final minute to seal the victory.
"After I got the first two, I kind of relaxed a little bit and just tried to do the same thing over again," McPherson said. "I blocked out the crowd and it was a crazy environment to play in front of. I just wanted to focus on the routine.
The Greyhounds are now one of the final 32 teams playing NCAA Division III basketball this season.
