CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – Senior guard Danielle Brogan scored a career-high 26 points as the Moravian College women's basketball team won another gritty road battle at previously-undefeated DeSales University, 69-60, on Tuesday night.
The Greyhounds (4-1) won by a comfortable nine-point margin, but there was nothing comfortable about the victory as a whole. The contest's lead changed hands 16 times and the score was tied 13 times before Moravian played technically sound basketball to close out the road win.
"I don't know if we took over at the end," said head coach Mary Beth Spirk. "We started playing with more energy and we knocked down some huge shots. The big difference was stepping up on the defensive end. They work so hard in limiting their opponents' chances and that actually helped set up some clutch shots for us down the stretch."
The Hounds followed the hot hand of Brogan in the first half as the see-saw battle with the Bulldogs (4-1) began to take shape. The senior guard scored 14 of her career-high 26 points in the first half, including a driving layup to help her side take a 21-18 lead and one of her four three-pointers to give Moravian a 26-22 advantage.
"She's been raising her game as a senior, and that's what you want to see from one of the leaders on this team," Spirk said. "Her offense obviously gave us a huge boost today, but it was her defense that really made a difference. On offense, she has one of those shots that looks like it's going to go in when she's on a roll."
The Bulldogs took a 34-32 lead into halftime. Even during one of her best career games, Brogan knew it would have to be a team effort if the Greyhounds were to erase the slim Bulldog lead and come away with a win at a rowdy DeSales' Billera Hall.
"I felt good today, but it was a total team victory," Brogan said. "Everyone stepped up when they had to today. There was great ball movement on offense and we worked together on defense."
Junior forward Alexis Wright had a quiet game by her standards, but the Moravian star showed up when it counted, especially on the defensive end. Wright recorded nine rebounds and five blocks, and gave the Hounds two of the biggest buckets of the game.
With Moravian holding a slim 61-60 lead with two minutes left in the game, Wright converted back-to-back layups to give her squad what turned out to be an unsurmountable lead. Sophomore guard Emily MacDonnell and Brogan each made two free throws down the stretch in the foul bonus to put the victory on ice.
Wright also claimed a piece of Moravian history on Tuesday as she became just the 11th player in school history to record 600 career rebounds with her fifth rebound of the game in the second half. The junior forward scored eight points on 4-12 shooting from the floor, the first time this season she was held to single digits in the scoring department.
Senior point guard Katie O'Rourke returned to action for the Greyhounds after missing a couple games with an injury, and immediately announced that she was back. The floor general shook off the rust quickly and turned in a well-rounded stat line with 11 points, eight rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block. O'Rourke was also a perfect 3-3 from the free throw line.
Sophomore guard/forward Alesha Marcks (eight points, five rebounds) had another strong game off the bench for the Greyhounds. She scored eight straight points in the second half to help Moravian take a 52-48 midway through the second half as the Bulldogs and Greyhounds continued to go back-and-forth.
"We love to see that fist pumping after she hits a big shot," Brogan said of Marcks, who shouted, "Let's go!" to her bench after making her fourth straight field goal. "She really gets us going."
Moravian would take the lead four minutes later, and some solid defending helped hold that lead as the Greyhounds won their fourth game of the season.
The Greyhounds return home to Johnston Hall for the annual rivalry game with Muhlenberg College on Tuesday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. It's a White Out game as Moravian encourages fans to support the women's basketball program by wearing white.
