BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College women's basketball team used a balanced scoring attack with a pair of double-doubles to begin its 2019-20 home season with a 68-54 non-conference victory over visiting The College of New Jersey in Johnston Hall Tuesday evening.
"It was a great opener to start the season here in Johnston Hall coming off of a tough loss at Smith on Sunday," commented Head Coach Mary Beth Spirk. "I was really pleased with the high energy and our effort. That is what we talked about, pleasing with some energy and effort, and we did that. I thought we passed the ball well, we made the extra pass and we took care of the ball, two things that we didn't do well over the weekend. To come and beat TCNJ, who beat us up pretty badly at their place last year, was really nice and hopefully it gets us going on a little winning streak."
The Greyhounds, who improved to 3-1 on the year, had four players in double figures led by senior guard Maddie Capuano, who netted a team-high 19 points to go with a pair of assists. Senior forward Nadine Ewald had her third straight and 25th career double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds while sophomore guard Kayla Yoegel had her first career double-double with career bests of 12 points and 10 rebounds to go with three assists, three steals and a pair of blocked shots. Ewald moved into ninth in school history with 696 career rebounds. Senior guard Karlie Brogan tossed in 14 points to go with eight boards and three assists.
Freshman guard Madison Amy contributed four steals, three points and three assists for the Hounds while senior guard Brooke Santy and junior forward Jordan Beneducci both scored two points. Freshman forward Emily Markowski pulled down four rebounds for the Blue and Grey while freshman guard Morgan Amy had three boards.
The Lions scored the opening points before Ewald knotted the score at 2-2. TCNJ moved back in front at 4-2 before an 8-0 Moravian run with Yoegel and Brogan each netting four points put the Hounds up 10-4 with 6:54 left in the opening quarter. The Lions clawed back within two points before two free throws by Brogan and Capuano would hit a buzzer beating lay-up to give the Greyhounds a 19-10 lead after 10 minutes of action.
Yoegel started the second quarter scoring with a free throw for a 20-10 edge, and after a free throw from Ewald, the Blue and Grey had a 23-14 advantage with 7:24 until the intermission. The Lions answered with a 10-0 run to move back in front 24-23 with 3:31 until halftime. Beneducci hit a lay-up to give the Hounds the lead again and start a 12-0 run capped by Capuano three-pointer. Moravian headed to the locker room up 35-26 after a late basket by TCNJ.
The Lions closed the gap to seven points twice early in the third quarter, but Moravian led by as many was 15 points, 52-37, after a free throw from Capuano and the Greyhounds had a 52-43 edge after 30 minutes of action. The fourth quarter would be the same with TCNJ getting within seven points in the opening 10 seconds before the Hounds stretched the lead to 16 points on three occasions.
Moravian is scheduled to return to action on Saturday, November 23 when the squad heads to Gwynedd Mercy University for a non-conference game tipping off at 1:00 p.m.
