NEWARK, Del. - - With her first bucket of the fourth quarter, junior guard Macy Robinson became the fifth player in Wilmington University women's basketball NCAA era to score 1,000 career points, but Goldey-Beacom stole the show, 82-63, in the 2017-18 season finale on Saturday at the WU Athletics Complex.
Robinson came into the contest needing 17 points to reach the milestone plateau, and quickly raced out to 14 points at the halftime break. With only one point in the third quarter, it wasn't until the first Wildcat (6-22, 3-16 CACC) bucket of the fourth that Robinson reached her mark. She finished with 27 points on the afternoon, moving into fourth place in Wildcats history with 1,010 career points. Amelia Simmons is the all-time leading scorer with 2,267 career points.
Despite Robinson and Emma Matthews getting off to strong starts for the Wildcats, the Lightning (9-19, 7-12 CACC) were able to tame the rest of the team in the early going and jump out to a quick lead. The Lightning shot 58.8 percent from the floor in the first quarter, and turned an 11-9 deficit into a 23-13 lead at the end of 10 minutes of play with a 14-2 run.
Goldey-Beacom scored the first five points of the second quarter as well, taking a 28-13 lead with 8:40 left in the half. Another 6-0 run in the frame opened a 34-15 lead for the Lightning as they went on to win the second quarter, 21-17, take their largest lead of the game, 39-17, and take a 44-30 lead into the halftime break.
The lead grew to as many as 20 again in throughout the third quarter as the Lightning again won the frame, 14-9.
Robinson put her 1,000th career point with a layup at 8:57 left in fourth quarter as she went on to score 12 points in the frame on 5-of-7 shooting. The Wildcats tied the Lightning in the frame, 24-24, but the Lightning took the victory.
Robinson led all scorers with 27 points on 11-of-19 shooting, hitting three three-pointers. Matthews added 16 points on 7-of-15 shooting, eight rebounds, and two blocked shots. The pair had 24 of the 30 Wilmington points in the first half.
Nyree Grant led the team with 11 rebounds, adding six points as well. Mikala Casimir scored six points to go with a team high four assists and three steals.
Saturday was the final game of the season for both the Wildcats and Lightning, as they both fell short of the CACC Tournament out of the South Division.
