Persistent Gophers Defend Well, Snag Elusive First Victory
MADISON, N.J. — It was certainly no coincidence that the first time Goucher held an opponent to a shooting percentage under .300 that the Gophers picked up their inaugural victory of the 2010-11 campaign.
Cotton's Crew Holds Rangers Below .300 Shooting Percentage
MADISON, N.J. — It was certainly no coincidence that the first time Goucher held an opponent to a shooting percentage under .300 that the Gophers picked up their inaugural victory of the 2010-11 campaign.
The Gophers allowed Drew to make only 17 of the 58 shots it got off in tonight's Landmark Conference game in which head coach Didi Cotton's squad snapped a season-long 11-game losing streak by knocking off the Rangers, 55-51.
Even worse than Drew's .293 shooting percentage was the Rangers' accuracy from 3-point range: they launched 34 3-point attempts and were successful only seven times (.206).
Neither team led by more than three points until Elizabeth von Ende (Leawood, Kan./American Hebrew Academy) nailed a 3-pointer with :12 showing on the clock that provided the Gophers (1-11, 1-3 Landmark) with a 20-16 lead at the end of the first half.
There were six ties and five lead changes over the first 11:35 of the second half. The lead changed hands for the ninth —and final — time when Amy Smith (Logan Twp., N.J./Paulsboro) landed a 3-point try to put Goucher in front, 44-43, with 4:25 left to play. Smith's 3-pointer and another by Taquasia Lambert (Brooklyn, N.Y./Patapsco) were part of a run of 12 unanswered points that turned a four-point deficit into a 51-43 advantage for the Gophers with just :44 remaining.
Even though Goucher converted eight consecutive free-throw attempts at one point down the stretch, the Rangers (7-6, 0-4) still closed to within 53-49 on a made 3-pointer by Jen Mateo with :25 left to play. After Sharnell Huff (Bowie, Md./Bowie) bumped the Gophers' lead back up to six points with a pair of free throws, Mateo put up two more 3-point attempts, but neither one found its mark.
Precious Kollock (Baltimore, Md./Patapsco) turned out to be Goucher's only double-digit scorer as she contributed 13 points to the win.
Mateo shared scoring honors for Drew with Danielle Barber as both players finished with 14 points. The four players who came off the bench for the Rangers combined to score only three points.