Copyright 2016; Wilmington University. All rights reserved. Photo of Macy Robinson by Frank Stallworth.
WILMINGTON, Del. - - The largest scoring output of the season kept the Wilmington University women's basketball team alive in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference playoff race, as the Wildcats defeated Goldey-Beacom, 92-67, on Saturday afternoon at the Joseph West Jones Center.
With the win, and an overtime victory by Chestnut Hill today at USciences, the Wildcats (14-13, 9-9 CACC) need to win their final game of the year against Holy Family and have the Griffins lose to Philadelphia. The Wildcats and Griffins would be tied in fourth in the South Division, with the secondary tiebreaker going to Wilmington for splitting the season series with Holy Family.
On Saturday, the Lightning (8-19, 8-10 CACC) grabbed the early lead, 7-2, midway through the first quarter, but it was all Wilmington for the rest of the first. Tenicia Spence hit the first of her three-pointers on the day to tie the game, 9-9, before Macy Robinson hit back-to-back triples to open a 15-9 lead with 3:32 left. Spence hit a final jumper at the buzzer to give the Wildcats the 25-16 lead after one.
Following a Lightning three-pointer, Lindsay Bradford sparked an 8-0 run with a jumper, with buckets also coming from Spence, Auryonah Nash, and a layup from Bradford, putting the visitors up 38-22 with 4:56 remaining in the half. Out of a 30-second timeout, Katara Pressley laid one home, sending the Wildcats into the halftime break leading, 41-28.
The Lightning scored the opening bucket of the second half, but the Wildcats responded with another 8-0 run, stretching the lead out to 49-30. The Lightning closed the gap to 55-42 with a 10-1 run of their own, but another Robinson three-pointer and a pair from the line by Spence gave the Wildcats a 62-46 lead after three quarters.
The Lightning got to within 12 points early in the fourth quarter, but Robinson hit her fifth three-pointer of the game and followed it up with a layup before Zameria Jones chipped in with another layup for the 72-53 lead. Free throws extended the lead before a final bucket by Bradford gave the Wildcats its largest lead of the game, and the final score, 92-67. The 92 points are the most this season in a victory for the Wildcats. They also scored 92 in a loss at Lincoln early in the season.
Robinson led the Wildcats with 27 points off the bench, shooting 7-of-13 from the field, including 5-of-7 from three-point territory. She also added a team high 13 rebounds for the double-double. Spence finished with 25 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including hitting 3-of-5 from deep. Ebonee Dixon added 13 points while Bradford chipped in with 10 points, nine rebounds, and four blocks off the bench.
The win was the first against the Lightning since February 3, 2009 when the Wildcats won, 74-52, at the Pratt Student Center, ending a streak of 13 straight victories by Goldey-Beacom.
The must-win game against Holy Family will take place on Tuesday at the WU Athletics Center. The Wildcats will honor their five seniors prior to tip-off at 6:00 p.m.
