Goucher Loses Close One in Conference Opener

The Goucher Women’s Basketball team fought hard for 40 minutes but Susquehanna University held them off and outlasted the Gophers by a 62-55 score.

Box Score

Team Stats

Goucher Loses Close One in Conference Opener
December 3, 2016

Towson, MD – The Goucher Women's Basketball team fought hard for 40 minutes but Susquehanna University held them off and outlasted the Gophers by a  62-55 score.  Down by five at halftime and as much as 12 in the second half, the Gophers closed the margin to two with less than two minutes to go but Susquehanna made the crucial free throws in the waning minutes and won going away.  This was the Landmark Conference opener for both teams.

Junior Briana Bull (Baltimore, MD) led the Gophers in points and rebounds with 22 points and 10 rebounds.  This was Bull's second double-double of the season.  Senior, Jaida Scarborough (Baltimore, MD) came off the bench to dish out five assists.  Scarborough also had four steals.

Susquehanna had three players in double figures, led by Angie Schedler with 17 points and Lexi Biggs-Garcia and Nikki Komara each had 10 points. Biggs-Garcia led Susquehanna on the boards with eight rebounds.

How It Happened:

- Susquehanna took an early lead and pushed it to five points with 4:04 left in the first quarter, but Goucher continued to fight back and by the end of the first quarter, the Gophers were down 17-14 when Briana Bull hit a lay-up with one second left in the quarter.

- At the start of the second quarter, freshman Katie Pacak (Annandale, VA) hit a short jumper and right away the Gophers pulled with one, down 17-16. Susquehanna then went on a 7-2 run and led by six points with 6:37 left in the second quarter.

- Goucher still would not go away and cut the lead to two points (24-22) with 4:36 left in the second quarter, but the Gophers allowed Susquehanna to stretch the lead to as much as seven points (31-24) with just 37 seconds to go until halftime. Pacak cut the margin to five with a put back before the buzzer sounded and Goucher trailed 31-26 at halftime.

- The third quarter saw Goucher come out and cut the lead to one point (31-30) in the first 40 seconds, but Susquehanna went on another run (8-0) and went up 38-30 with 5:56 left in the third quarter.  After exchanging several baskets over the next few minutes, Susquehanna took their largest lead of the game at that point going up nine, 44-35 with just 24 seconds left in the third quarter.

- Susquehanna extended their lead to as much as 12 points on two separate occasions in the fourth quarter (48-36 and 51-39), but still the Gophers kept fighting back and got to within two points (57-55) with just 57 seconds left in the game.  Unfortunately Goucher did not score another point and Susquehanna made 5-6 free throws to end the game with the final score of 62-55.

Coach's Daniel's Thoughts:

· "I am extremely proud of this team for their fight and effort throughout the entire game.  This young team could have folded when we went down 12 points two separate times in the fourth quarter, but they didn't and we continued to fight until the end of the game"
· We are disappointed in this loss because we certainly believed we had great opportunities to win this game against a good and well coached Susquehanna team, but we know what we need to do to be better the next time we are in this situation."

Next Up:

· The Gophers will travel to take on a Division I opponent, the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD on Wednesday, December 7. Tip off time is set for 7 PM.