Allegheny Trio Leads Gators to ECAC Championship Game
The Allegheny College Gators punched their ticket to next week’s ECAC Women’s Basketball Tournament Championship game with a 52-40 win over McDaniel College in Erie, PA Sunday afternoon.
The trio of Bella Antonacci, Ava Kobus, and Emily Lauer carried the Gators throughout the day, combining for 40 of the team’s 52 points on 16-of-31 shooting, while the other Allegheny players shot 6-of-21 on the day. Antonacci grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds and handed out 6 assists while being the only Gator to hit a three on the day, going 3 for 5 from distance. Jess Bickart and Sarah Santicola cleaned up the boards and helped contribute to Allegheny’s advantage on the glass, each pulling down 8 rebounds, 14 of which came on the defensive end, limiting McDaniel’s second-chance opportunities.
Elaina Beckett and Teya McConnaha were the only two McDaniel players to reach double-figures, scoring 14 and 13 points, respectively, and grabbing 8 rebounds apiece. The challenge for the Green Terror on the afternoon was solving the Allegheny defense as McDaniel shot just 26 percent from the floor and 23 percent from three-point range. While free throws overall came at a premium, with just 12 combined between the two teams, the Green Terror could not stimulate their offense with free points, going just 2-for-5 from the charity stripe.
McDaniel barely trailed in the opening quarter, scoring the game’s first basket and holding at worst a tie with Allegheny for all but 48 seconds of the first quarter. McConnaha had two quick baskets and Beckett followed suit with a personal 5-point spurt to jump the Green Terror out to a 9-4 lead. But Allegheny went on a 7-2 run to close the frame and the game was tied at 11 going into the second quarter.
The Gator run continued well into the second quarter as Allegheny’s extended scoring run sat at 16-2, turning that 9-4 first-quarter deficit into a 20-11 lead with halftime approaching. McDaniel was fortunate to only find themselves trailing by 9, however, as Allegheny held the Green Terror without a single point for the first 7 minutes and 17 seconds of the second quarter, yet only scored 9 points themselves. McDaniel’s defense helped give their offense a chance to figure it out, forcing 6 missed shots in the paint during their scoring drought, otherwise the game may have been out of reach by the half. Instead, McDaniel weathered the storm and closed the quarter on a 9-2 run to make it just a two-point game, 22-20 in favor of Allegheny, at the half.
McDaniel tied the game at 22 on the first possession of the second half and had a chance on their next possession to take the lead for the first time since it was 9-8 with 2:41 left in the first quarter, but Allegheny got the stop and came back down to hit a three-pointer to take the 25-22 lead. The Gators would never trail again. The three-pointer sparked a mini 7-0 run and while McDaniel fought to get back within 3 points just a few minutes later, the Gators found themselves up 10 with 3 minutes left in the quarter and again up 10, 39-29, heading into the fourth quarter.
Given the defensive intensity Allegheny brought to the court, the double-digit lead was just too much to overcome for McDaniel. The Gators extended their lead to as many as 16 points in the fourth quarter before coasting to the 52-40 win.
Allegheny won the second pod and will take on William Paterson University next Saturday, March 15th in the ECAC Women’s Basketball Championship game.