Wilkes Women's Basketball Comeback Falls Short against Stockton
WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University Colonels women's basketball team concluded their five-game home stand at the Marts Center Saturday afternoon against the Stockton Ospreys.
The Colonels (6-5) closed within two in the final minutes of the game after being down by as many as 14 in the contest but couldn't take the victory away from the Ospreys (5-6) in the 59-49 affair. The victory snapped a four-game losing skid for the Ospreys, while the Colonels finished their five games straight at home with a 3-2 record heading into Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom play this upcoming week.
The Ospreys jumped out to an early 9-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game and nursed their advantage throughout the first quarter, heading into the second quarter up 17-8. They built up their strongest lead of the day 27-13 halfway through the quarter, but free throws by the Colonels coupled with a three pointer fueled a 12-2 Colonel run to head into the locker room down 29-25.
An early 7-0 run by the Ospreys built their lead back into double digits to start the third frame and set the tone for most of the quarter. Free throws and layups once again helped the Colonels claw at the lead, with a 5-0 run at the end of the quarter leaving them only down 42-39. A pair of Osprey threes to start the fourth built their lead back up to nine points. The Colonels once again refused to roll over, closing within striking distance with 2:46 to play with a 49-47 score. The Ospreys shut out the Colonels comeback efforts with a 10-2 run to wrap up the game.
Two Ospreys hit double digits points, while another had double digit rebounds. Freshman center
Ariel Reed (Woodbury, PA/Northern Bedford) led all Colonels with nine points, the most of her young career thus far. Junior guard
Maddie Kelley (Dallas, PA/Dallas) had a season-high three steals alongside seven points and eight rebounds. The Ospreys outscored the Colonels in second chance points 16-9.
The Colonels return to the road this upcoming week to start the MAC Freedom portion of their schedule. They travel to Misericordia on Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. The Colonels are 5-16 in the series in the live stats era thus far.
