Diplomats Respond, Send Gophers to Consolation

Diplomats Respond, Send Gophers to Consolation 

Nov. 17, 2007

LANCASTER, Pa. - A lay-up by freshman center Taqwisha Richardson (Roanoke Rapids, NC/Western) provided Goucher with a seven-point advantage - its biggest of the contest - with 14:51 left to play today, but Franklin & Marshall responded with a 12-2 run to wrest the lead away from the Gophers.

After that the lead changed hands four times before the Diplomats went ahead to stay on a lay-up by Brittany Braxton with 7:12 remaining. F&M went on to win the opening-round game of the Terry Greene Tip-Off, 78-71.

The loss drops head coach Didi Cotton's Gophers into Sunday's consolation where they will take on Washington & Lee. The Generals lost to Alvernia, 76-66, in today's other first-round contest.

There were eight ties and six lead changes in the first half of the Goucher-F&M contest, which, thanks to a pair of lay-ups by Shadae Swan (Baltimore, MD/St. Frances Academy) in the final :34, ended with the Gophers (0-1) leading 33-31.

The Diplomats (1-0) managed only three points on their first nine possessions of the second half, which allowed Goucher to expand its lead to 41-34.  Goucher went ahead for the final time, 58-57, on a three-point basket by Candra Scott (Bowie, MD/Eleanor Roosevelt) with 7:31 remaining.

Two players - Sarah Meisenberg and Amanda Miceli - combined for 48 of F&M's 78 points. Meisenberg was 10-for-23 from the field as she furnished 26 points to the victory, while Miceli finished with 22 points.

Swan reached double figures in points for the 48th consecutive game for Goucher as she knocked down a team-high 19 points. Amber Smith (Baltimore, MD/Institute of Notre Dame) and Leia Roberts-Brown (Washington, DC/Archbishop Carroll) tallied 13 points apiece.

Richardson was credited with a game-high 13 rebounds in her collegiate debut.