BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College women's basketball team jumped out to a 10-0 lead and eventually posted a 63-38 Landmark Conference victory over visiting Juniata College in Johnston Hall Saturday afternoon as the Greyhounds hosted their annual Play4Kay game to raise money for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.
The Hounds, now 13-8 overall and 6-4 in Landmark Conference action, wore pink uniforms for the 13th consecutive year and are 8-5 when wearing pink. Moravian has raised $154,290 over the last 11 years for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund heading into 2020, leading NCAA Division III in Play4Kay each year. The day began with the Blue and Grey welcoming back 28 former players for the annual Alumni game. Moravian also had Lucy Reynolds, the granddaughter of Political Science Professor Dr. John Reynolds, toss up the ceremonial jump ball in memory of her grandfather, who passed away two weeks ago after a battle with cancer.
"This is a truly special day for our program with our Alumni coming back to town and reminiscing as well as the way the team and community help us continually support the Kay Yow Cancer Fund," stated Head Coach Mary Beth Spirk. "It was also great to have Kay Yow Board of Director member Connie Rogers-Newcome and her husband Tom in attendance for the second time for our event.
"This is always a long, emotional day for the student-athletes, so I was pleased to see us get off to a quick start when the game actually began," continued Spirk. "The early lead helped us use the bench more and balance out minutes which is nice to be able to do before a big game at Scranton next week. I'm very happy with our effort today but we need to keep moving in the right direction to secure a postseason berth in two weeks."
Moravian had just one player in double figures as senior guard Maddie Capuano netted a game-high 20 points to become the fifth player in school history to surpass 1,600 career points, now with 1,610. Capuano also had four rebounds in the game while freshman guard Madison Amy tossed in nine points with three rebounds. Freshman guard Jackie Kelly contributed seven points and six boards off the bench while freshman guard Morgan Amy had seven points, three assists and a pair of rebounds.
Senior forward Nadine Ewald contributed eight rebounds, five points and five assists while senior guard Brooke Santy also scored five points. Freshman guard Meghan Ansel added four points and two rebounds while senior guard Karlie Brogan grabbed a team-high nine rebounds to go with two points and a pair of steals. Junior guard Sarah Donati pulled down a career-best six rebounds to go with two points while sophomore guard Alix Buskirk had three rebounds and two points. Freshman forward Emily Markowski added four rebounds while sophomore guard Kayla Yoegel grabbed a pair of boards.
Capuano hit a lay-up just three seconds after the opening tip-off, and when Madison Amy hit her first jumper of the afternoon, the Blue and Grey had a 10-0 lead at the 5:29 mark. Kelly had a put back lay-up with just over a minute left in the first quarter that had the Hounds up 18-5 after 10 minutes of action.
Capuano connected on a three-pointer and a pair of free throws as the Greyhounds went on an 11-0 run to start the second quarter, pushing the lead to 29-5 after two free throws from Brogan with 6:32 until the intermission. Moravian's advantage reached 25 points, 33-8, on a lay-up from Santy with 2:17 until halftime, and the Hounds headed to the locker room leading 36-13.
Juniata scored first to start the second half and would get with 17 points before Moravian stretched the lead to 26 on a jumper by Madison Amy late in the third quarter. The Blue and Grey led 49-24 after 30 minutes of action and would eventually push the lead to 30 points at 61-31 on a jumper by Ansel with just over four minutes remaining.
The Greyhounds are scheduled to return to action on Wednesday, February 12 when the squad travels to No. 17 The University of Scranton for a Landmark Conference contest beginning at 7:00 p.m.
