The Shorewomen narrowly lost a thrilling contest to the Bullets of Gettysburg College last Saturday at home by a score of 81-79.
The two teams met last month at Gettysburg and WC lost by 16 points. In Saturday's game, however, the Shorewomen grabbed the lead early and went into the locker room at the half with a lead of 38-35.
Gettysburg bounced back to start off the first 3:17 of the second half of play with a 10-3 run. WC never gave up, however, and fought to keep Gettysburg's lead within striking distance. The lead grew to its largest with only 2:49 left in the game when it stood at 69-62, the Shorewomen trailing.
WC stepped up its play, helped by critical shooting from junior Regina Barrett, sophomore Elise Conway, and sophomore Irene Pastorino.
Barrett hit a three-pointer to spark the Shorewomen's intensity level, and bring the score to 71-67. On the next possession, Conway was fouled, and made both her free-throws. Pastorino, fouled on her own three-point attempt, made all three free-throws, and with less than 50 seconds on the clock, the Shorewomen were only down by three points.
A lay-up by freshman Kaitlyn Roth proved to be the final two points of the game. Washington had possession of the ball with just over three seconds remaining in the game. Meghan Luterzo, a freshman, put up a long three-pointer at the buzzer, but tough pressure defense by Gettysburg did not allow the Shorewomen to get a off a clean shot.
WC shot over 80 percent from the free-throw line in the second half, including hitting 12 of 14 down the final stretch. Conway led WC with a new career-high of 22 points in the game, including going two of three from behind the three point arch.
Pastorino scored 19 points, including four three-pointers, a season high for her. Barrett scored 13 points, and junior LaToya Turner contributed 11. The Shorewomen out-rebounded Gettysburg 39-33.
Head Coach Gail Gilchrest was very impressed with her team's play, saying that "The first time this season that we played as a team-all five at the same time-on both ends of the floor."
The 79 points scored in the game was a season-high for the Shorewomen. Coach Gilchrest also commented that she thought the game was "a momentum builder into the last four games of the season. It definitely gave the team the confidence to know that we can compete with anyone if we play as a team for 40 minutes."
The Shorewomen play host to Franklin & Marshall Saturday at 2 p.m.
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