BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College women's basketball team rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to defeat Landmark Conference opponent Juniata College in a thrilling 82-71 contest Saturday afternoon.
"It was a huge game conference standing wise and we came out with great energy," commented Head Coach Mary Beth Spirk. "We were playing solid but we kind of leveled out and they started hitting shots while ours weren't falling. We talked at halftime saying we had two choices, we could feel sorry for ourselves and lose at home or come out and play hard and make them beat us. We came out with a lot of energy and had everyone contributing."
Sophomore guard Morgan Calabrese led the Greyhounds with 22 points, one shy of her career-high, while tying her career-highs in, rebounds with nine, steals with four and adding two assists and one block. Senior forward Alexis Wright earned her 33rd career double-double with 21 points and 17 rebounds, which moves her into second in Greyhound history with 837 career rebounds, and three steals and two blocks.
The junior class worked hard with forward Alesha Marcks grabbing her third double-double of the season, scoring 11 points and grabbing 12 rebounds to go with a game and career-high seven assists, three steals and one block. Guards Emily MacDonnell tossed in 12 points for the second time in her career, and added five assists, two blocks, two rebounds and one steal while Samantha Caligiuri added a career-high 11 points and two steals.
In the first half, the Eagles got out to five-point lead before a group effort got the Hounds up to take a seven-point lead. Wright would start the run with a layup to trail by one, followed by a three-pointer from Calabrese, a pair of free-throws from Marcks and another three by Caligiuri still with 14:57 to play. The Blue and Grey held the lead but with 9:33 until half Juniata cut the deficit and exchanging of baskets would take until the Eagles had a 10 point lead headed into halftime. Moravian started the half 6-for-11 from the floor before making just 4-of-24 shots the rest of the half.
Moravian scored a quick six baskets to start the second half, but things would get interesting around the 15:30 mark when a layup by Calabrese tied things up 44 apiece. The Eagles would go on a run yet again but the Hounds fought back making it a three-point game with 11:03 left to play. In the second half, the game would be tied eight different times the last being by Juniata at 69 with 4:00 minutes on the clock. The Greyhounds would take a 11-point lead that wouldn't be changed earning their sixth conference win, 82-71.
