Women's Hoops Sinks Shippensburg, 75-57
SHIPPENSB URG, Pa.- In the first leg of its trip to the Keystone State, the Merrimack women's basketball team claimed a 75-57 victory over Shippensburg. The Warriors push their record to 4-4 on the year while the Red Raiders fall to 3-5 overall.
Kelly Schatzlein (Tolland, Conn.) and Tiffany Colon (Lawrence, Mass.) paced the visitors with 17 points each. Genn Roy (Granby, Mass.) added 13 points while Sarah Benischek (Shrub Oak, N.Y.) pitched in eight points and 12 rebounds. Schatzlein and Colon contributed nine and eight boards, respectively.
Merrimack jumped out to a 14-9 lead midway through the opening period. Both squads had trouble draining buckets in the first 10 minutes as there were two spans of 2:30 with no points scored.
The Warriors gained a double-figure advantage in the final minute of play. Benischek knocked down a three-pointer to award Merrimack its largest lead of the half, 11 points. Shippensburg got a bucket back to bring the margin to nine but Colon connected on a jumper to restore the Warriors' 11-point edge just before the buzzer.
Merrimack maintained a double-digit lead throughout the second half. The closest that the Red Raiders came to the Warriors was 11 points on two occasions but Merrimack would stretch its advantage before the home team could get any closer.
The Warriors shot 41.8% from the floor in the game and 32% from three-point range. Shippensburg managed to hit on 27.1% of its field goal attempts as well as three-point attempts.
Merrimack dominated the glass, pulling down 58 rebounds in the contest while limiting the Red Raiders to 34 boards.
The Blue and Gold also owned the edge in points in the paint, 18-8.
Roy registered six steals for the Warriors and Bensichek dished out a game-high four assists.
"Today's win was a great way to come out of the holiday break," said head coach Helen Williams. "We played well throughout the entire game. It'll be important for us to carry the intensity from this game into tomorrow's game against a good team."
The Warriors will take on their fourth ranked opponent this season tomorrow afternoon. Merrimack and No. 17 Millersville are set to square off at 1 p.m.
