Big Second Half Lifts Medaille Past Women's Hoops

ERIE, Pa. – The Medaille women's basketball team held a 22-point scoring margin over Penn State Behrend in the second half to erase a 12-point deficit to earn a 77-67 victory in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) action on Wednesday night.

The Mavericks (11-9, 8-5 AMCC) came out of halftime to produce a 29-7 advantage in the third quarter while holding a 51-34 overall margin in rebounds to complete the regular-season sweep of the Lions (8-12, 6-7 AMCC). Dani Reinwald and Morgan Kennedy each tallied double-doubles for Medaille. Kennedy tallied 18 points, 21 rebounds and Reinwald recorded 10 points, 15 boards.

For Behrend, Autumn Byes (Erie, PA/Villa Maria Academy) had a season-high 22 points to go with seven rebounds, five steals and three assists.

The Lions shot 55 percent from the floor in the first quarter and outrebounded the Mavericks 12-4 to take a 22-13 lead after the first 10 minutes. With a small three-point lead at 16-13 with 3:01 remaining, Behrend scored six straight points, a layup from Erika Woll (Erie, PA/Mercyhurst Prep) and two baskets from Byes to hold an early nine-point lead.

Medaille got within four in the second quarter with the last time coming at the 3:06 mark, before pulling ahead by double-digits on an Emily Kinecki (Erie, PA/Mercyhurst Prep) jump shot with 1:58 left. Woll managed to get the final bucket with 10 seconds showing for a 41-29 halftime lead.

The Lions held Reinwald, the Mavericks leading scorer, without points in the first quarter and just six in the second.

The game was flip flopped after intermission with Medaille shooting 57.1 percent for the third quarter while Behrend went 3-for-13 for 23.1 percent. Kennedy, who did not score in the first half, added eight points and nine rebounds in the third period.

The damage was done in the third quarter, even though the fourth was even in the scoring column with 19 apiece for each team. The Lions made it a five-point game with a Nicole Boyer (Blairsville, PA/Blairsville) at 70-65 but free throws down the stretch and costly turnovers kept the contest in favor of the Mavericks.

Woll finished with 17 points and Kinecki tallied 15 on the night.

The Lions return to action on Saturday at Pitt-Greensburg at 3 p.m.