BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College women's basketball team jumped out to a 7-0 lead and led by 17 points after the first quarter in route to an 86-71 Landmark Conference victory over visiting Susquehanna University in Johnston Hall Wednesday evening.
"We came out hard, which was something that we had really talked about the last couple of days at practice, and took it to Susquehanna early," stated Head Coach Mary Beth Spirk. "Maddie and Nadine came out on fire and really opened up the offense at the beginning of the game. We need to keep playing this way for the second half of the conference round robin to be in the mix for a postseason berth at the end of February."
The Greyhounds, who improve to 11-7 overall and 4-3 after the first half of the Landmark Conference season, had three players in double figures led by senior guard Maddie Capuano, who had a game and season high 31 points to go with five rebounds and two assists. Capuano, who is fifth in school history with 1,560 points, had 12 of Moravian's 27 points in the first half and 22 of the squad's 41 points at halftime. Capuano also became just the third player in school history to reach 200 career three-pointers made when she sank her fourth of five three-pointers in the game.
Senior forward Nadine Ewald tied her career-high with 28 points in the game, and she added a game-high nine rebounds to go with two assists and two steals. Ewald moved up to a tie for 14th all-time with 1,161 points, and she is third in program history with 846 rebounds. Sophomore guard Kayla Yoegel tossed in a career-high 14 points to go with seven boards in the victory.
Senior guard Karlie Brogan scored four points and added seven rebounds and three steals while freshman guard Morgan Amy had four rebounds, three points, two assists and a pair of steals. Freshman guard Madison Amy contributed five assists, three rebounds and two points while freshman forward Emily Markowski netted two points to go with three boards and sophomore guard Alix Buskirk had two points. Junior forward Jordan Beneducci also had three rebounds with a pair of blocked shots.
Ewald opened the scoring and she had another basket after a three-point play from Yoegel as the Greyhounds led 7-0 after 6:21 of action. The River Hawks did not score until the 4:48 mark, and Capuano immediately answered with her first three-pointer of the contest. Morgan Amy scored a lay-up to put the lead into double digits at 12-2, and another three-pointer from Capuano had the edge at 15-4, and the advantage remained in double figures for the rest of the night. Yoegel put back a missed shot late in the quarter as the Blue and Grey led 27-10 after 10 minutes of action.
Capuano hit a lay-up to start the second quarter, and Moravian's lead reached 21 points at 38-17 on a lay-up from Ewald with 1:42 before the intermission. Capuano finished the half with her final three-pointer of the game to send the Greyhounds to the locker room with a 41-21 edge.
The Hounds pushed the lead to a game-high 28 points a 55-27 on another three-point play from Yoegel with 4:29 left in the third quarter, and Yoegel drained a late jumper as Moravian led 65-43 after 30 minutes of play. Susquehanna would get within 13 points in the final minute as the Greyhounds used their bench in the final 10 minutes before Buskirk sank two free throws to end the contest.
Moravian is slated to begin the second half of the Landmark Conference season with a game at The Catholic University of America on Saturday, February 1 with tip-off set for 4:00 p.m. in Washington, D.C.
