Strong Second Half Pushes Wilkes Women's Basketball Over Lycoming
WILKES-BARRE – Brenna Babcock (Sweet Valley, PA/Northwest Area) scored 11 of her team leading 15 points in the second half while Erin Shober (Reading, PA/Wilson) made three straight layups in the fourth quarter to help Wilkes University women's basketball team have a strong second half and beat Lycoming College in Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) action on Wednesday night at the Marts Center.
Wilkes improves their record to 2-4 on the year and 1-0 in the conference while Lycoming falls to 3-5 and goes 0-1 in the division.
The game started well for the Colonels as Shober and Nadia Evanosky (Dallas, PA/Dallas) scored the first two buckets of the game to give Wilkes a 4-1 lead. Mya Wetzel responded with her own layup, but Julia Marino (Washington Township, NJ/Washington Township) hit both her free throws to keep Wilkes in front 6-3. Both teams would be close in the first quarter as they were similar in shooting percentage as Wilkes shot 23.81% on the field compared to the Warriors 23.52% as the Colonels had a 12-10 lead going into the second quarter.
Lycoming would start to get going as Emily Lockard made back-to-back shots while Jillian Pumptus hit a three as the Warriors would score the first ten points of the quarter and lead 20-12 halfway through the period. Matos would hit one of her free throws while Ariel Reed (Woodbury, PA/Northern Bedford) would make a layup to get within five points of Lycoming. The Warriors keep pace with Wilkes as Lycoming would head into halftime with a 26-21 lead. Lycoming shot 31.58% in the second quarter while Wilkes had 23.08 field goal percentage in the period.
Babcock would start the third with a layup, but Ashley Yoh would make the next two buckets as Lycoming would be up 30-25 four minutes into the third quarter. The Colonels would start to pick up momentum as Marino and Babcock would make layups to get the Colonels within three. Babcock would get an and-one play to get Wilkes tied at 30-30. Brianna Horton (Verona, NJ/Verona) would then hit a three to give Wilkes the lead with under three left in the third quarter. The Warriors would not go away as they would score the next six points, but Babcock would make a three right before the buzzer to take the game tied into the fourth quarter at 36-36.
The fourth quarter saw both teams go back and forth with the lead, as Lycoming had the first bucket from a Yoh jumper. Yamirelis Matos (Springfield, MA/Chicopee) would get an and-one play to give Wilkes the lead, but Kenzie Reed would take it right back with her own layup and going 1-2 from the free throw line. The Colonels and Warriors would keep the pace going, as both teams would trade leads within the next two minutes with Lycoming holding a 44-42 lead with just under six to play. Shober would then begin to get in the paint and make her layups, scoring three straight shots to give Wilkes a 48-46 lead. Evanosky would make her jumper to extend Wilkes lead as both teams would begin to get fouls and go to the free throw line.
Lycoming would go 3-4 on the line during the last three minutes of play. Wilkes would go 6-8 on the free throw line, as Babcock, Horton, and Shober would make their attempts as they would take the lead to the end of the game and get the 58-51 victory.
Babcock would lead Wilkes with 15 points on the night, adding six rebounds, three steals, and a block. Marino followed behind with 13 points as she led the team in steals with five, recording three assists, four rebounds, and a block. Shober had 10 points, five rebounds, and two blocks in her 20 minutes of play. Madison Robel (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex) tied for first on the team with six rebounds, while Reed and Victoria Crooker (Shamong, NJ/Seneca) had five apiece.
Wilkes will finish off their three-game home stretch as they host Neumann University on Saturday at 1;00 p.m. in the Marts Center in non-conference action.
