Langhorne, PA – Visiting Keystone College limited Cairn University to just nine field goals while forcing a season-high 38 turnovers as the Giants cruised to a 94-21 victory over the Highlanders in Colonial States Athletic Conference action on Saturday afternoon. The 21 points are allowed are the fewest allowed by a Keystone team since the 2005 season as the Giants improved to 8-7 overall and 5-1 in conference play with their third consecutive victory.
Ashley Evans (Wooster, OH/Wooster) scored a game-high 17 points to lead five Keystone players in double figures while
Jazmyn Robinson (Hyattsville, MD/Northwestern) added a double-double on 10 points and 11 assists, which tied the third-best single-game assist performance in program history.
Keystone scored the first seven points of Saturday afternoon's contest before Cairn (2-10, 0-7 CSAC) narrowed their deficit to 11-7 at the 17:05 mark of the first half. The Giants used a 12-0 run to open up 23-7 advantage and outscored the Highlanders 33-2 over the final 13:29 of the opening stanza to hold a commanding, 56-12 lead at the break.
Alyssa Cuomo (Odessa, DE/Hodgson Vo-tech) and
AAliya Hayes (New Rochelle, NY/New Rochelle) had 11 points apiece while Evans netted 10 first half points to pace the Giants in the opening 20 minutes of play while Robison dished out all 11 of her helpers in the frame. The Giants shot a solid 61 percent from the floor in the first stanza while going 3-9 from three-point range and converting all three of their free throw attempts.
Amie Eppolito led Cairn with six points while Regina Younger netted four points in the first half for the Highlanders, who hit on just 19.2 percent of their attempts from the floor and were 2-8 from downtown.
Keystone tallied the first 22 points of the second half before Cairn hit their first field goal of the period with 10:48 left on the clock, but the Giants continued to pull away as the hosts made just four field goals in the closing half.
Hayes,
Dyjae Williams (Newark, NJ/Bloomfield Tech), and
Alyssa Cuomo (Odessa, DE/Hodgson Vo-tech) joined Evans in Robinson in double-digit scoring with Hayes contributing 16 points on a 7-8 shooting day from the floor plus 2-3 from the free throw line, Cuomo tallying 13 points, and Williams netting a career-high 11 points. The Giants finished the game shooting 54.7 percent from the floor, 41.7 percent from beyond the arc, and 70 percent from the charity stripe.
Jerica Rode (Lords Valley, PA/Wallenpaupack) led all players with eight rebounds and three blocked shots as the Giants held a 40-25 advantage on the glass for the evening. Robison added a game-high six steals to her double-double while Evans collected four takeaways in the victory.
Eppolito's six points and four assists were tops among the Highlanders while Tori Moll finished the contest with five points and a team-best three steals. Cairn shot just 18 percent from the field on the afternoon while going 3-17 from three-point land and the Giants prevented the Highlanders from having any free throw attempts on the day.
While forcing a season-high 38 turnovers, the Giants gave the ball away just 13 times themselves for a plus-25 turnover ratio for the game.
Keystone will return home on Wednesday to take on Centenary College in a CSAC contest scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in the Gambal Athletic Center in La Plume.