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FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Sixth-ranked University of Saint Francis
bolted from a tie at 27 at the half to squelch Grace College
upset hopes 70-50 on Saturday afternoon at Hutzell Athletic
Center.
USF improves
to 20-5 overall, 9-2 in Mid-Central
 Conference play. GC
slips to 9-13 overall, 1-9 in the MCC.
USF trailed
by as many as nine points at 24-15 before the scrambled back
with a late flurry of points to take a 27-25 lead.
Senior
center Chivonn Keppeler scored 11 of her team-leading 16
points in the second half. GC still led 31-27 early in the
second half and the two teams traded the lead three times
before USF took control with 12-0 run starting with a Tara
Dice jumper for a 41-40 lead with 14:07 left to play. GC
went just over eight minutes without scoring from the 14:14
mark to the 5:54 mark, both times on Kami Hilliker baskets.
Toni Burney finished the USF run with a layup at the 6:01
mark for a 51-40 USF lead.
Keppeler
finished with her fifth double-double this season after she
grabbed 10 rebounds for the Lady Cougars.
The Lady
Cougars outscored GC 31-10 in the final 14:07 of the game to
win for the 24th time at home in the last 25 games.
"I thought
our defense shut them down and led to offense especially
during that time," USF coach Gary Andrews said. "We did a
great job going to the offensive boards and even though we
didn't shoot all that well, but we didn't turn it over and
dominated the boards. Kinda like the Huntington game, we
really finished strong.
"I
don't think we were as intense as we needed to be to start
the game and turnovers hurt. We did get it going after we
got down nine and took the lead."
Jenny
Richards came off the bench scoring 13 points, her third
straight game in double figures for USF, and Jessica
Hathaway added 10 points.
USF secured
its third consecutive 20-win season and the fourth in six
seasons for head coach Gary Andrews. It was also Andrews'
130th win.
USF resumes play
on Wednesday night when they travel to Goshen
College for a 7 p.m. tip. The game will be carried on WSHY
Sunny 106.3 FM starting at 6:45 p.m.
--
GO USF -- |
