BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College women's basketball team hosted their annual Bring a Kid to the Game Day and Book Drive in Johnston Hall on Saturday afternoon in a Landmark Conference battle to hold playoff spots; however, the Greyhounds second half rally fell short as the squad dropped an 85-78 decision to The Catholic University of America.
"We played tough in the second half to make it a game after being down by 22 points, but we can't wait until the last 12 minutes to play that way," commented Head Coach Mary Beth Spirk. "We've been stressing to the team all season that we need to play a full 40 minutes. We started strong in the first half and finished that way but we need to play a complete game to challenge for a playoff berth.
Senior forward Alexis Wright earned her 34th career double-double scoring 20 points to become the 11th player in school history to reach 1,200 career points now at 1,217 and grabbing 11 rebounds to raise her career total to 848, second in the Greyhounds' record book. Junior forward Alesha Marcks tossed in 17 points while going 11-for-11 at the foul line, and she added seven rebounds, four assists and three steals while freshman forward Trista Cunningham had 11 points and three boards.
Junior guard Marie Rossignoli contributed nine points and four rebounds off of the bench for the Greyhounds while junior guard Emily MacDonnell tossed in eight points to go with three assists. Sophomore Morgan Calabrese added seven points and three rebounds while junior guard Samantha Caligiuri scored six points to go with three steals.
In the first half, the Greyhounds jumped out to a three-point lead when Marcks connected on two free throws. From there, it was a fight for points each team trading points until the Cardinals took the lead with 12:42 and held on to a 10 point lead heading into half, 44-34.
The second half, the Cardinals extended the lead, but the Hounds would cut the lead to eight with 9:02 with a layup by Calabrese. With another set of free throw Marcks cutting the lead making it a four-point game, 74-70, with a little over 2:30 left to play. Catholic would jump out a seven point lead, but a layup by MacDonnell brought it back within five with 39 seconds left. However, the Greyhounds could not get any closer.
The Greyhounds head to nationally-ranked The University of Scranton on Wednesday, February 4 with tip off slated for 7:00 p.m. in a Landmark Conference game.
