Immaculata, Pa. – Immaculata University built a 19-7 lead in the first quarter of Saturday afternoon's Colonial States Athletic Conference women's basketball game against Keystone College and held on for a 59-48 victory. The Mighty Macs improve to 7-12 on the season including a 7-3 mark in the CSAC while the Giants slide to 5-14 overall and 4-7 in conference play after suffering their sixth-straight defeat.
Immaculata jumped out to an 11-2 lead over the first 4:11 before Keystone scored five straight points to pull within four. The Mighty Macs countered by scoring the final eight points of the period to hold a 19-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Immaculata pushed its lead to 23-9 three minutes into the second stanza, but the Giants outscored the hosts 13-5 over the final seven minutes of the period to narrow its deficit to 27-22 at halftime.
Tamyra Laws led all players with eight points and 10 rebounds while Annie Kohutka netted seven points in the first half for Immaculata. The Mighty Macs held the five-point halftime advantage after connecting on 34.8 percent of their shots from the floor in the first two quarters while going 10-12 from the free throw line.
Brianna Nolen (Union Bridge, Md./Walkersville),
Bryce Garrett (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram),
Hannah Zuchowski (Wellsboro, Pa./Wellsboro Area), and
Emily Hutton (North Bennington, Vt./Mount Anthony Union) had four points each for Keystone as the Giants shots 21.9 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes of play to go along with a 7-8 showing at the line.
Immaculata opened up a 37-26 lead at the 4:33 mark of the third quarter. After Keystone pulled to within six points, the Mighty Macs pushed their advantage back to 11 points before taking a 42-33 lead into the final period.
The hosts extended their lead to 13 points early in the fourth quarter before the Giants pulled to within seven at 49-42 midway through the period on a three-point play by
Nina Hodanich (Scranton, Pa./West Scranton). Immaculata countered with the next six points though and Keystone was unable to pull closer than seven points the rest of the way.
Laws finished with game-highs of 23 points and 27 rebounds to lead Immaculata while Amber Ballinger netted 13 points in the win. The Mighty Macs finished the game hitting on 29.3 percent of their shots from the floor while going 2-12 from three-point range and 67.6 percent from the charity stripe. The hosts also held a 55-42 advantage in rebounding for the contest.
Hodanich paced Keystone with nine points while Nolen and Zuchowski added eight points each.
Savanna Robinson (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./James M. Coughlin) chipped in seven points for the Giants, who were led by
Dyjae Williams (Newark, N.J./Bloomfield Tech)'s 11 rebounds.
Keystone shot 22 percent from the field on the day including a 1-10 effort from long distance. The Giants, who were plus-three (18-21) in the turnover department, shot 75 percent from the stripe in the loss.
Keystone will play its final non-conference game of the season on Monday night at Bryn Athyn College. Opening tip is set for 7:00 p.m. in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania.
