BIDDEFORD, Maine --- The Moravian College women's basketball team had its 2015-16 season come to a close with a 65-45 loss to No. 7 Tufts University in the Second Round of the 2016 NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament in the regional pod being hosted by The University of New England Saturday evening.
The Greyhounds finish the season at 20-8; the 18th 20-win campaign in school history as the Blue and Grey were making their 10th NCAA Tournament appearance. Moravian had topped No. 15 and host UNE Friday evening, 70-60, in the First Round
"It was a different atmosphere in the gym tonight, and we expended a lot of energy yesterday so I thought we were a little flat," commented Head Coach Mary Beth Spirk, who finishes her 29th season with a 542-228 overall record. "I felt that we were ok initially but then we got down. We were just flat offensively and defensively. It seemed liked we stopped running plays on offense and tried to go one-on-one, and defensively we were just a step away from a pass or a rebound. Tufts is a pretty good team and they just played solid. They made shots today and looked really good. It is just unfortunate because I thought we would play a little bit better and have the score closer but as I told the players, there is no reason to hold our heads. There are a lot of teams that wish they were still playing tonight."
Junior guard Camille McPherson led Moravian with 13 points to go with four rebounds and two assists while graduate student forward Alexis Wright had nine points, seven rebounds and two steals while playing in her school-record 121st career game. Wright completes her career with the Hounds third all-time in scoring with 1,711 points, the school record holder in rebounds with 1,272 boards, second in blocked shots with 277 and sixth in steals with 213.
Senior forward Alesha Marcks netted seven points to finish her career 16th in school history with 1,132 points, 11th in rebounds with 639 and seventh in blocked shots with 107 in 112 career games, tied for eighth in career games. Sophomore forward Trista Cunningham and freshman guard Maggie Melhem each had six points with Cunningham grabbing three boards.
Junior guard Morgan Calabrese and senior guard Karine Polgar each had two points and three rebounds while senior guard Samantha Caligiuri had two rebounds and an assist.
Calabrese scored the game's opening points 1:27 into action as Moravian took a 2-0 lead. The Jumbos scored the next six points before Marcks hit a free throw with 4:57 showing on the clock. Tufts would hold a 21-7 lead at the end of the first quarter after shooting 9-of-16 from the floor while the Greyhounds were just 3-of-12.
McPherson scored to open the second quarter for the Hounds, and Moravian outscored Tufts, 11-10, in the period but the Jumbos headed to the locker room with a 31-18 lead. The Blue and Grey struggled to shoot the ball in the third quarter, making just 3-of-14 field goal attempts as Tufts extended its lead to 51-29 through 30 minutes of action.
The Greyhounds had seven players that completed their careers Saturday evening including Wright, Marcks, Polgar, Caligiuri, guard Emily MacDonnell, guard Marie Rossignoli and forward Karlee Corvasce.
"It was a tough locker room after the game. Alexis has been with me for five years, and I said maybe I need to give her a room for as well as I know her. The group has been great. You usually don't see it too often that they're seniors that stick it out this long especially some of those that don't play as much. They showed great leadership all year and leadership today. The locker room was sad but ultimately they just created some great memories that are going to last a lifetime," finished Spirk.
