Union, NJ – Tied 54-54 midway through the second half, Keystone College's women's basketball team embarked on a 16-0 run to break open a tight contest on their way to a 94-77 victory over Simmons College in the consolation game of the Kean University Tip-Off Tournament on Sunday afternoon.  Ashley Evans (Wooster, OH/Wooster) scored a game-high 28 points to lead four Giants in double-figures as Keystone leveled their record at 1-1 on the young season.
 
After Simmons (0-2) scored the game's first basketball on a layup, Evans connected on a three-pointer to put Keystone ahead and the Giants would not trail again in the half.  The Giants pushed their lead to as many as seven points before the Sharks  battled back to tie the score on five occasions before a 12-2 run by Keystone gave the Giants their largest lead of the period, 34-24, with 3:43 left on the clock when Maria DiMartin (Oneonta, NY/Oneonta) scored on a fast-break layup. 
 
Keystone would hold a 38-35 lead at halftime after shooting 39.4 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes of play while going a perfect 9-9 from the free throw line.  The Giants held Simmons to a 26.4 percent performance from the field in the first stanza including a 1-12 effort from three-point range.
 
Keystone pushed their lead to five points early in the second half before the Sharks were able to reclaim the lead for the first time since the game's opening minute at the 16:28 mark on a free throw before Chelsey Hropovich (Seward, PA/Ligonier Valley) put the Giants back in front with a jumper on Keystone' next possession.  The two teams swapped the lead again a pair of times over the next few minutes before a lay-in by Simmons' Silva Presley knotted the score at 54-apiece with 13:22 left on the clock.
 
Jazmyn Robinson (Hyattsville, MD/Northwestern) put the Giants back in front for good with a layup of her own just eight seconds later which ignited the decisive, 16-0 run by Keystone over the next 2:18 that gave them a 70-54 advantage with 10:56 left on the clock.  Robinson and Evans both scored seven points apiece during the surge.
 
Simmons was able to trim their deficit to six points at 77-71 with 4:59 remaining, but back-to-back field goals from Samantha Donahue (Taylor, PA/Riverside) followed by a DiMartin layup dispelled any hopes of a comeback by the Sharks as the Giants went on to score 17 of the games final 23 point to pull away for the first victory of the season.
 
Evans led all players in scoring for the second-straight game after going 10-27 from the field, 5-13 from beyond the arc, and 3-3 from the free throw line.  Cierra Hensley (Frederick, MD/Frederick) added 18 points and finished one rebound shy of a double-double after for a team-high with nine rebounds on the day.  Donahue finished with 14 points and a team-best five assists while Robinson contributed 13 points, four helpers, and paced all players with six steals.
 
Jerica Rode (Lords Valley, PA/Wallenpaupack) also corralled nine boards and blocked a game-high four shots for the second-straight contest for the Giants, who turned the ball over just 13 times while forcing the Sharks into 34 giveaways in the game.
 
For the game, Keystone connected on 41.4 percent of their field goal attempts while going 26.3 percent from downtown.  The Giants also went 15-22 (68.2 percent) from the charity stripe on the day.
 
Jennifer Janiak paced Simmons with 22 points while Ashley McAdams (14 points, 14 rebounds) and Presley (17 points, 10 rebounds) added double-doubles in the loss.  Gracie Rolfe was the fourth player in double-figures with 10 points for the Sharks, who went 48.1 percent from the field, 25 percent from three-point land, and 67.6 percent from the stripe in the setback.
 
Keystone will return to the hardwood on Tuesday evening when they visit Cazenovia College for a non-conference game scheduled to tipoff at 6:00 p.m. in Cazenovia, New York.