GWYNEDD VALLEY, Pa.- The Immaculata women's basketball team returned to action on Thursday evening on the road at Gwynedd Mercy. Despite leading for much of the contest, Immaculata fell by a final score of 89-80 following a 44-point second-half performance by the host Griffins.
After trading scores through the opening two minutes of the contest, Immaculata went on a 9-0 run over the course of the next three minutes to open up a commanding 13-5 lead over Gwynedd Mercy midway through the first quarter of play. Gwynedd Mercy snapped its scoreless streak with 5:01 to play in the opening quarter, trimming the Mighty Mac lead to 13-7. Immaculata continued its strong start to the game ending the first quarter on a 19-12 run to carry a commanding 32-19 lead into the second quarter of play.
In the first quarter, Immaculata got off to a hot shooting start shooting 54.5 % through the opening 10 minutes while also going 6-of-7 from the charity stripe to help claim the early lead.
The second quarter began similarly to the first quarter as the two sides traded baskets throughout much of the early going as the Macs worked to maintain the 13-point advantage, which they had built for themselves during the opening quarter of play. Near the midway point of the second quarter, Gwynedd Mercy went on a 5-0 run, which cut the Macs lead back down to single digits making the score 39-31 with five minutes to play in the first half. Immaculata did not allow its lead to be trimmed for long as the Mighty Macs responded quickly with a 9-4 run of their own led by
Jordan Rook and
Emily Halloran to reclaim a double-digit lead with the score at 48-35 with three minutes to play in the first half. Gwynedd Mercy closed the first half on a 10-2 run, which trimmed the deficit back to five (50-45), heading to the halftime break.
In the first half of play, Rook led the way for Immaculata, scoring 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting, including 2-of-3 shooting from beyond the arc to help Immaculata out to its early lead.
Kaitlyn Racobaldo added nine points of her own through the opening 20 minutes, while
Theresa Kearney and Halloran chipped in eight points apiece to help the Macs claim the halftime lead.
As a team, Immaculata was a solid 19-of-37 (51.4 %) from field goal range while also going 4-for-8 (50.0 %) from beyond the arc and a nearly perfect 8-of-9 (88.9 %) from the line.
Gwynedd Mercy continued its work to open the second half to attempt to draw back even with Immaculata cutting the deficit to 52-49 with just over minutes to play in the third quarter. Immaculata answered back with a 12-0 run led to extend its lead back to 64-49 with under five minutes to play in the third period of play. Immaculata went on to outscore its hosts 25-13 in the third, which allowed the visiting Macs to carry a 75-58 lead into the fourth and final quarter of play.
Theresa Kearney posted an impressive third-quarter performance as she scored 11 of the Macs 25 points to increase her point total to 19 on the evening.
Gwynedd Mercy opened the fourth quarter on a blistering 13-0 run, which trimmed the deficit back down to single digits making the score 75-71 with 6:38 to play, which prompted an Immaculata timeout. Following the timeout, Gwynedd Mercy continued to slow the potent Immaculata offense, which eventually enabled the Griffins to reclaim a slim 76-75 lead with 4:13 to play in regulation. Gwynedd Mercy continued its relentless fourth-quarter defensive effort to hold on for an 89-80 win over the visiting Mighty Macs.
Kearney ended the evening as the Macs leading scorer with 22 points as one of four Mighty Macs in double figures on the evening. Rook concluded her night with 15 points, while Racobaldo and Halloran ended with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Rook also added a game-high 11 rebounds, which gave the sophomore her first double-double of the young season.
As a team, Immaculata ended the evening shooting 37.2 % (29-of-78) from the field and 39.1 % (9-of-23) from three-point range. Immaculata also shot 81.3 % (13-of-16) from the charity stripe in the setback. Immaculata was also edged in the rebounding battle by a 53-45 margin trailing 20-16 in offensive rebounds and 33-29 in defensive rebounding.
Haley Crossley scored a game-high 25 points for the Griffins thanks to an impressive 9-for-10 shooting effort from the field. Elise Sylvester and Lynzie Eggers also ended the night in double figures for the Griffins, scoring 16 and 14 points, respectively. The Gwynedd Mercy bench played a key role in the victory for the Griffins outscoring the Mighty Mac bench by a 52-19 margin.
Immaculata and Gwynedd Mercy will square off on Friday evening inside Alumnae Hall in the second and final game of the season series between the two teams, with that contest set to begin at 7 p.m.
