HUNTINGDON, Pa. --- The Moravian College women's basketball team was 33-for-38 from the foul line led by junior forward Alesha Marcks, who was 12-for-12 at the charity stripe, as the Greyhounds rallied from a 13-point deficit to earn an 86-78 victory at Juniata College in Landmark Conference action Sunday to close out the 2014-15 regular season.
"Our free throw shooting was great down the stretch, and we had solid contributions from everyone off the bench as well as the starters. It was a good team win," commented Head Coach Mary Beth Spirk.
Marcks tossed in a game-high 26 points to lead four Hounds in double figures, and she was 8-for-8 at the foul line in the final 1:14 of action as Moravian pushed a six-point lead to 12 points. Marcks also had nine rebounds and three steals in the contest while shooting 7-for-14 from the floor.
Sophomore guard Morgan Calabrese tossed in 18 points for the Greyhounds while shooting 4-for-5 behind the three-point arc and 4-for-4 at the foul line, and Calabrese added four rebounds and four steals. Freshman forward Trista Cunningham netted 11 points, all in the first half, and she added two boards.
Senior forward Alexis Wright had her 15th double-double of the season and the 39th of her career with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Wright became the eighth player in school history to reach 1,300 career points, now with 1,307, and she raised her career rebounding total to 922. Wright had five blocked shots in the victory to move into second in school history with 200 blocks, and she contributed two assists and two steals on Sunday.
Junior guard Samantha Caligiuri added eight points, three boards, three assists and three steals for Moravian while freshman guard Taylor Freeman had six points. Junior guard Emily MacDonnell tossed in five points while junior forward Karlee Corvasce contributed two points and a blocked shot.
After giving up the first basket of the game, the Greyhounds took a 9-5 lead on Calabrese's first three-pointer of the game at the 16:19 mark. Cunningham hit a lay-up for the first of three five-point leads for Moravian and the final one of the first half came at 12:26, 19-14, on another Calabrese trey.
The Hounds were up 25-22 with 9:42 to play before the intermission after a jumper by Wright but the Eagles would score 18 of the next 20 points to pull ahead, 40-27, with three minutes left in the first half. The Greyhounds closed the half with an 11-4 run to cut the deficit to six points, 44-38, on a three-pointer by MacDonnell.
Moravian tied the game at 16:31 of the second half, 48-48, on a three-pointer from Calabrese but Juniata once again moved ahead, pushing the advantage to eight points, 62-54, with 11:27 remaining. Marcks started a 6-0 run by the Hounds with a pair of free throws, and Calabrese knotted the score at 68-68 with 5:40 to play.
The Greyhounds retook the lead for good, 72-71, on a lay-up by Wright with 3:55 remaining, and Moravian outscored Juniata, 18-7, over the final 4:10 of the contest including 10 points at the foul line to seal the victory.
The Hounds finish the regular season at 14-11 overall, and the squad was tied for fourth in the Landmark Conference standings with Susquehanna University; however, the Greyhounds lost the tiebreaker to the Crusaders. Moravian will wait until Monday, March 2 to see if the squad earns one of the eight berths to the 2015 ECAC Division III South Tournament. If the Hounds receive a berth, it will mark the 14th straight year that the program has reached the postseason.
