Lady Wolverines drop defensive struggle, 53-45
GROVE CITY, PA , January 17 , 2001--Grove City held the defending conference champions to 33% shooting and forced 22 turnovers, but top-rated Bethany rallied from an eight-point second-half deficit to pull out the Presidents' Athletic Conference opener, 53-45.
The Lady Wolverines (10-4, 0-1), who held the lead for 10 minutes in the second half, didn't fare any better from the floor -- shooting 33% -- and hit just 3 of 8 from the free-throw line. The Bison (10-4, 1-0) used a 19-for-25 clip from the stripe to help end Grove City's six-game home winning streak.
Junior T.L. Thompson (Girard, PA/Girard) paced the Lady Wolverines with 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting. Junior Stephanie Murphy (Munroe Falls, OH/Stow-Munroe Falls) chipped in with 10 points and evenly split 10 steals with sophomore Cara Denniston (Grove City, PA/Grove City). Junior Livia Wright (Economy, PA/Ambridge) tied for high-rebound honors in the game with nine boards, adding two blocked shots.
Kelley Richardson was the only Bison in double-digits with 17 points. Richardson converted 7 of 11 free throws and added nine rebounds.
Bethany jumped out to a 9-0 lead, holding Grove City scoreless through the first four minutes. The Lady Wolverines rallied with 9-2 run to cut the deficit to 11-9 at the 12:26 mark. The Bison scored the next seven points, bumping the lead back to nine with 8:27 left in the first half. The Lady Wolverines trimmed the deficit to two again, 23-21, at 3:38 with Murphy tossing in eight points as part of a 12-5 run. Thompson tied the game with a lay-up, 25-25, at the 1:21 juncture, but Bethany scored a minute later to take a 27-25 edge into intermission.
Both teams came out of the locker room rusty, shooting a combined 0-for-11 through the first 3:28. Grove City took its first lead with 13:40 left to play, 31-30, and added a 10-3 run to go up 41-33 at 10:19. Bethany followed with a 13-4 run to claim a 46-45 edge with 3:46 left and never trailed again.
Grove City lost a pair of guards to injury in the second half with sophomore Kristin Paslowski (Franklin, PA/Franklin) leaving with 10 minutes remaining and Murphy exiting with under two minutes left.
Lady Wolverine head coach Melissa Lamie was absent from the game, having given birth to Melia Rose on Tuesday at 5:45 p.m. Melia weighed seven pounds, four ounces and measured 20 inches.
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