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Syracuse, N.Y. – Taneka Lewis scored 20 points to lead Wheeling Jesuit University to a 70-61 win over the Le Moyne College women's basketball team on Tuesday night in non-conference action at Ted Grant Court. The match-up, the first ever between the two programs, is the sixth of 46 scheduled women's contests this season between Jesuit institutions.
Junior forward Bath-Sheba McMahon (Queens, N.Y./Grambling Laboratory (La.)/Weatherford College) scored a career-high 21 points in 30 minutes off the bench to lead the Dolphins offensively. She also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, her most as a Dolphin. Junior guard Alex Marple (Covington, Pa./Wellsboro) was the only other Dolphin in double digits with 12 points.
Lewis scored 10 points in each half for the Owls. She also added three rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals. Breanna Butler recorded 17 points, 14 of which came in the second half. Alex Anderson led the Cardinals in rebounds with six, all of which came in the first half.
The back-and-forth first half featured six lead changes and six ties with Wheeling Jesuit posting the largest margin of the half at just five points.
After the Dolphins scored four of the first five points over the opening 2:17, the Cardinals responded with a 10-4 run over the next 5:38 to reverse the three-point margin. Four different players scored in the span, led by three-pointers from Butler and Kylie Frizell.
Le Moyne countered with five straight points on a jumper by junior forward Tessa Pucello (Syracuse, N.Y./Solvay) and a three-pointer by classmate Maddie Hahesy (Erie, Pa./McDowell) to regain the lead with 10:30 left.
Following a jumper by McMahon that put the Dolphins in front 15-13 with 7:09 left, Wheeling Jesuit rattled off seven straight points to take the largest lead of the stanza. Taylor Lubinsky recorded a conventional three-point play and Lewis followed with four points in a span of 21 seconds to force a Le Moyne timeout.
The Dolphins answered back with 12 of the next 17 points to take the lead back. After graduate student guard Kayla Stroman (Syracuse, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy/Niagara) started the run with a pair of free throws, McMahon made a pair of lay-ups around three-pointers by Marple and senior guard Maddy McKnight (Springfield, Pa./Springfield).
After Lewis tied the score at 27 with two free throws with 49 seconds, Marple gave the Dolphins a 29-27 lead at the intermission with a lay-up with 26 seconds remaining.
The opening eight minutes of the second half featured five more ties and five more lead changes before Wheeling Jesuit took the lead for good.
After Marple made a free throw with 12:04 left to tie the score at 42 apiece (the 11t tie of the game), the Cardinals scored four straight points and seven of the next nine to take a five-point advantage. Butler hit a three-pointer with 11:19 left to put the Cardinals in front and Kelsey Pacholke followed with a free throw and a conventional three-point play with 9:05 to go.
The Dolphins cut their deficit to five on three occasions over the next three minutes, but could not get any closer.
Following a put-back lay-up by sophomore forward Maggie Brown (Cortland, N.Y./Cortland) with 6:10 left that made the score 53-50, Wheeling Jesuit rattled off eight of the next nine points over a stretch of 3:09 to take its first double-digit lead of the game. Pacholke started the run with a put-back lay-up, Alex Anderson followed with a conventional three-point play and then Lewis drilled a three-pointer from the left wing.
The Cardinals went 9-for-12 from the foul line over the final 2:12 to seal the victory. Butler was perfect in eight attempts from the charity stripe to off-set six points from McMahon and four points from Stroman in the final 2:35.
Le Moyne (7-3), which has dropped back-to-back games in a span of three days, returns to the hardwood (and Northeast-10 Conference action) on Thursday against Southern Connecticut State University at 5:00 p.m.
