Gwynedd Valley, PA – Five Keystone College players reached double-figures in Wednesday night's Colonial States Athletic Conference women's basketball contest at Gwynedd Mercy University, but it wasn't enough as the Griffins escaped with a 90-79 victory over the Giants. Gwynedd Mercy boosts their record to 12-7 overall and 8-2 in conference play with the victory while Keystone falls to 9-11 on the season and 6-5 in the CSAC.
Keystone held a 16-14 lead with 12:22 remaining in the first half on Wednesday evening after
AAliya Hayes (New Rochelle, NY/New Rochelle) scored on a layup, but Gwynedd Mercy countered with the game's next six points to hold a 20-16 edge midway through the period. With the Giants trailing 21-18,
Cierra Hensley (Frederick, MD/Frederick) hit the front end of a pair of free throws and
Jerica Rode (Lords Valley, PA/Wallenpaupack) grabbed an offensive rebound on the second shot and laid one in to knot the score back up at 21-apiece at the 7:12 mark. The Griffins would go back in front and lead by as many as six points before taking a 35-32 edge into the halftime break.
Hensley paced Keystone with a first-half double-double on 12 points and 10 boards while Rode netted six points in the stanza.
Jazmyn Robinson (Hyattsville, MD/Northwestern) dished out five assists for the Giants, who shot 33.3 percent from the field in the period while going 7-9 from the stripe.. The visitors struggled from beyond the arc in the first half, converting just one of eight three-point attempts in the frame.
Charlotte Kucowski led Gwynedd Mercy with 10 points in the opening 20 minutes of play while Natasha Matthews and Olivia Bradford added eight points apiece, with Matthews and Nicole Dombrowski tying for the team-lead with seven rebounds apiece. The Griffins connected on 34.2 percent of their shots from the floor in the half while going 36.4 percent from three-point range and 5-6 from the free throw line.
Keystone worked their way back in front, 41-39, two and a half minutes into the second half, but Gwynedd Mercy answered with a decisive, 28-10 run to claim a 67-51 advantage with 8:51 remaining in regulation. The Giants trimmed their deficit to 12 points, 72-60, at the 6:51 mark, but the Griffins countered with an 8-2 spurt to push their lead to 18 points. Keystone did not go quietly, using a 17-8 burst to draw to within nine points, 88-79, with just over a minute remaining, but the visitors were unable to come any closer down the stretch.
Bradford finished with a game-high 24 points to go along with nine rebounds and eight assists to lead Gwynedd Mercy on the evening while Kucowski ended the contest with 19 points and nine boards. Matthews and Kelsey Yori added 13 points apiece for the Griffins, who shot 42.3 percent from the field for the game while going 40 percent from three-point land and 72.7 percent from the free throw line.
Hayes scored 16 points to lead Keystone while
Alyssa Cuomo (Odessa, DE/Hodgson Vo-tech) tallied 15 points in the loss. Hensley and Robinson netted 14 points apiece while Rode added 10 points for the Giants, who connected on 43.1 percent of their field goal attempts and 34.8 percent of their shots from beyond the arc while going 52.9 percent from the stripe.
Hensley added a season-high 14 boards to round out her fifth double-double of the season and second in as many nights while Robinson dished out a game-high nine assists. Rode added seven rebounds and two blocked shots for the Giants in the setback.
Keystone will make the short trip to Marywood University on Saturday afternoon to take on the Pacers in a CSAC tilt scheduled for 1:00 p.m. in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
