BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College women's basketball team scored the first seven points of the game and led 35-12 at the end of the first period as the Greyhounds won their second straight game with a 97-57 victory over Immaculata University in non-conference action Thursday evening in Johnston Hall.
All 18 players on the Moravian roster saw action in the game with 16 players netting points and no one playing more than 17 minutes. The Hounds were hot from the floor in the first half, making 23-of-44 field goal attempts (52.3 percent) and 3-of-7 three-pointers as the Blue & Grey led 58-27 at halftime and 86-31 after 30 minutes of action. The 97 points for the Greyhounds were the most since a 99-point effort versus Neumann University on December 1, 2010, and the last time Moravian hit the century mark was a 108-70 win versus Drew University on January 29, 2010. The Hounds' 40-point win is the largest since Moravian topped Medgar Evers College, 96-19, on January 2, 2012.
"We wanted to start fast and establish right away, and I thought we did that. We came out right from the tip and played tough, and I felt we continued it when we started subbing," commented Head Coach Mary Beth Spirk. "It's nice that we played 18 people. That's a lot of people to get into the game, and a couple people contributed as well that haven't played. It is a nice way to go into a tough three-game stretch on the road, especially since we didn't play anyone big minutes."
Freshman guard Maggie Melhem led the Greyhounds with 20 points in just 15 minutes of action to go with five steals and two rebounds.
"She's good," stated Spirk. "We knew that Maggie was going to be good, and she is capable of scoring a lot of points. The thing that I like about is that she can pass the ball, she plays solid defense and rebounds the ball well. She is just going to get better and better as she gets adjusted to the system and a better feel with the rest of the team."
The Blue & Grey had two other players in double figures with junior forward Camille McPherson tossing in 14 points to go with seven rebounds, and graduate student and forward Alexis Wright contributing 13 points, a game-high eight rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals. Wright's 13 points moved her into seventh in school history with 1,379 points in her career.
Senior forward Alesha Marcks, sophomore forward Trista Cunningham, sophomore guard Taylor Freeman and senior guard Marie Rossignoli each scored six points with Rossignoli pulling down five rebounds, Freeman contributing three steals and Marcks adding three boards and a pair of steals. Junior guard Morgan Calabrese and senior guard Karine Polgar and Emily MacDonnell all had four points and four assists with Polgar adding three steals.
Sophomore forward Jen Cella had three of the Greyhounds' 11 blocked shots in the game, and junior forward Courtney Kruscavage while senior guard Samantha Caligiuri and sophomore guard Victoria McCaslin each had three points with Caligiuri grabbing three boards. Senior forward Karlee Corvasce and freshmen guard Kaeli White and forwards Caitlin Flanagan and Kaitlyn Roberto all scored two points with Roberto pulling down four rebounds.
After the Greyhounds scored the first seven points, the Mighty Macs answered with four points to cut the Moravian lead to 7-4. The Blue & Grey would score the next 11 points to build an 18-4 lead with 4:57 left in the opening period. The Greyhounds kept the lead in double digits the rest of the way with the biggest margin reaching 48 points, 92-44, with 5:47 remaining.
Moravian will now play five straight road games after opening the 2015-16 campaign with three straight contests in Johnston Hall. The Greyhounds will be back in action on Saturday, November 21 in their opening round game versus Cabrini College tipping off at 5:30 p.m. in the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey Tournament.
