GEORGETOWN, Tex. --- The Moravian College women's basketball team opened its 2013-14 season with a 69-50 loss to Trinity (Tex.) University, ranked No. 19 in the D3hoops.com Preseason Top 25 Poll, in the opening day of the Southwestern (Tex.) University Tournament Friday evening.
"We played tough for about 26 minutes, but then our legs seemed to get tired and that led to turnovers and missing a few easy shots," stated Head Coach Mary Beth Spirk. "Trinity is a very good team and showed why they are ranked nationally."
The Greyhounds had a pair of players in double figures with junior forward Alexis Wright picking up her 21st career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds and sophomore forward Alesha Marcks tossing in 10 points, all in the first half, to go with six rebounds. Wright, who also blocked a pair of shots, was limited to just two points in the opening 20 minutes of action but she did move to 13th in the Moravian record books with 562 career rebounds.
Senior guard Katie O'Rourke added nine points, four steals, three rebounds and three assists for the Greyhounds while senior forward Ericka Blair had six points and eight boards. Senior guard Danielle Brogan tossed in six points as well while senior guard Alyssa Hann added five points and three rebounds.
Sophomore forward/center Anecia Richardson led the Tigers with 25 points while senior guard/forward Murphy Burns tossed in 14 points. Senior forward Libby Kruse led Trinity on the boards with nine rebounds.
The Tigers scored the first points of the game on a three-pointer but the Greyhounds answered right back to take a 4-3 lead on jumpers by Marcks and O'Rourke. Marcks put Moravian ahead, 6-5, at 15:47 with her second jumper of the game, and Blair hit a jumper for an 8-7 advantage.
Blair pulled the Greyhounds within a point at 14-13 before the Tigers scored six straight points to build a 20-13 lead at the 9:53 mark. Moravian slowly worked its way back into the game, trailing 26-23 with 3:54 before halftime on a jumper by Hann. The Greyhounds trailed 32-25 at the intermission after shooting 12-for-33 (36.4 percent) from the floor and just 1-for-6 at the foul line in the opening 20 minutes of action.
Brogan started the second half with a jumper, and she added a three-pointer and a free throw to help the Greyhounds pull within three points at 40-37 with 15:18 to play. O'Rourke had Moravian down three points, 44-41, with 12:35 remaining before an 8-0 run by Trinity broke the game open.
The Greyhounds ended up shooting 23-for-57 from the floor (40.4 percent), 2-for-10 behind the three-point line and just 2-for-8 at the foul line in the game while Trinity was a perfect 15-for-15 at the charity stripe in the contest. Both squads had 42 rebounds in the game but Moravian committed 33 turnovers while the Tigers had just 20 turnovers.
The Greyhounds will take on host Southwestern on Saturday, November 16 with tip-off set for 7:00 p.m. Central time on the second day of the tournament.
