Millersville, Pa. - The Millersville women's basketball team went 30-of-40 from the charity strip and never trailed, defeating the University of the District of Columbia 76-71 on Wednesday night in Pucillo Gymnasium.
Lauren Lister scored a season-high 25 points, tying a career high with 11 from the free throw line, and
Kendra Bamberger grabbed a career high 16 rebounds as the Marauders improve to 2-3 and the Firebirds fall to 2-4.
"They made some runs at us, but we managed to stop them," head coach
Mary Fleig said. "We had some good holds on defense and were smart down the stretch in the fourth quarter."
Due to an administrative technical
Courtney Dimoff was given two shots from the free throw line before the start of the game, and she made both. UDC tied the game just under a minute after the clock started, but Millersville then went on an 11-0 run to give itself a an early double-digit lead. The Firebirds finished the quarter on a 12-7 run during which they made all four of their shots from the floor to cut the deficit to six points.
The Marauders led as many as nine points in the second period, but UDC once again finished the quarter strong, going on a 10-4 run to go into halftime down only three.
Millersville maintained the lead throughout the third quarter, but never led by more than seven and entered the final period with a three-point lead. A 7-2 run to begin the period extended the lead to eight points, but the Firebirds responded with an 8-0 run to tie the game for the first time since the opening minute. The Marauders regained the lead from a layup by Lister and Bamberger followed with a jumper, but UDC battled back again to tie the game 66-66 with 2:39 remaining on the clock.
After a timeout was called, the Firebirds had possession and a chance to earn their first lead of the night, but Bamberger grabbed the miss jump shot and
Olivia Mottern's layup in the paint gave Millersville a 68-66 lead with 1:39 left in the game.
Kennedy Middleton followed with a clutch steal and the Marauders made eight of their final 10 shots from the free throw line to hold on for the victory.
"We had some big stops on defense and rebounds in the final few minutes," Fleig said.
Bamberger notched her third-consecutive double-double, adding 11 points to her career high in rebounds.
"We need her to finish and get those boards, and she has done that very well this season," Fleig said. "We'll need her to keep doing that this weekend when we open up PSAC play."
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• Millersville out rebounded its opponent for the first time this season, 44-34.
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Courtney Dimoff scored a season-high 17 points and went 6-for-6 from the charity strip. She fell one point shy of her career high which she notched in last season's win over UDC.
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Catherine Copeland tied a career high with three blocks. The other instance came in last season's win over the Firebirds.
NOTES
• The Marauders are now 6-4 all-time against UDC, including a spotless 4-0 mark at home.
• Similar to tonight's contest, last season's win over the Firebirds saw multiple lead changes in the final minutes and Millersville's shooting from the free throw line down the stretch made the difference, as it went 6-of-7 from the charity strip to hold on for an 82-79 win.
UP NEXT
• The Marauders will begin Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) play when it hosts California (Pa.) on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 1 p.m., followed by a rematch of last season's conference semifinal round against No. 13 Indiana (Pa.) the following day. It will be a tall task for Millersville, as both teams are currently undefeated at 5-0 and competed in last season's NCAA Tournament, but Fleig believes her young team gained necessary experience from its nonconference matches to compete against its conference foes.
"The games we've played so far have been very good for us to get the new kids in-game experience," she said. "We have a new team that needed to gel together before the start of conference play and we got some good experience in all areas."
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