ORANGEBURG, N.Y. - - The bench led the Wilmington University women's basketball team at Dominican, but the Chargers pulled away late to take a 78-67 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference victory at the Hennessy Center on Saturday afternoon.
Freshman Jasmine Lee scored 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor and 5-of-6 from the foul line while sophomore Tiaja Harrold added 10 points and junior Tashea Plummer led the Wildcats (6-16, 3-12 CACC) with 10 rebounds, all three players coming off the bench. Dominican (9-12, 7-7 CACC) turned a two point halftime advantage and even an early second half tied ball game into a double digit victory with a strong second half.
The Chargers had as large as a 12 point first half lead with 11:18 to play before the break when the Wildcats made their run to get back into the contest. Over the next 6:09 of game action, Wilmington would use a 12-2 run to close the gap to within two at 30-28 with 5:09 to play after a pair of free throws by Plummer. Down nine, Taylor Carter hit a three pointer before Lee and Plummer each hit both of their free throws to cut the deficit to a single bucket.
The Chargers opened the leaf back to six before jumpers from Carter and Auryonah Nash closed the scoring for the opening half, as the Wildcats went into the break trailing, 34-32.
Senior Kathryn Franklin opened the second half with her only field goal of the match, tying the match at 34. The Chargers responded with a three-pointer on the ensuing possession before Tenicia Spence brought the Wildcats back to within a point with a two-point jumper with 18:36 to play in regulation. But that would be the closest the Wildcats would come, as they were unable to get over the hump against their North Division foes the rest of the contest.
Leading 52-49 with 9:39 showing on the clock, the Dominican used a 9-0 run, capped by a three-pointer by Shannon McGill to take a double-digit lead with 7:02 remaining. A three-pointer by the Wildcats' Nash brought the visitors back within five at 72-67, but with only 38 to play, it was too little too late.
Lee and Harrold were the only Wildcats to reach double digit in scoring while leading scorer Spence scored six points on 3-of-8 shooting. Harrold added six rebounds while Jenn Carr grabbed seven boards on Saturday, four of which were on the offensive glass. Freshman Jocelyn Rodriguez tallied eight points and three steals while Nash finished with five points, three assists, and a steal.
Wilmington shot 41 percent from the floor, compared to the Chargers' 37.9 percent, but turned the ball over 25 times which turned into 25 Dominican points. The Wildcats went 2-of-9 from three-point territory while Dominican knocked down 4-for-13 from deep.
The Wildcats are two-thirds through their three-game road trip, as they remain on the road for one more contest next week. The Wildcats return to playing in the CACC South Division with a 6 p.m. contest at USciences on Tuesday night.