Basketball Spotlight: Charged Up Devils Defeat Dominican Saturday, February 12, 2005 By Bob Heller USIP Sports Information Director Solid second half play helped the USP women’s basketball team snap a two-game losing streak this afternoon as the came from behind to defeat the Dominican College Chargers, 70-61 at the Hennessy Center. Shelby Rance (So, Central Columbia HS/Bloomsburg, PA) led three Devils in double figures with a game high 22 points. Leah Shumoski (Jr., Marple-Newtown HS/Broomall, PA) added 20 points and Lori Wernik (So., Lower Cape May Twp. HS/Cape May, NJ) chipped in 10. Jackie Tracy led four Dominican players in double figures with 15 points followed by Ashley Rossi’s 13. Rance was also the Devils leading rebounder with five while Rashanna Edwards (So, West Windsor-Plainsboro HS/Plainsboro, NJ) paced the Devils with six assists and four steals. Rance also added four assists, three steals and a blocked shot while Shumoski dished out five assists and had one steal. The host Chargers held a slim 37-36 lead at the break, but the Devils opened the final period with an 8-2 run to take a 44-39 lead. The Chargers regained their one point lead with a 7-1 run to lead 46-45 at the 14:16 mark only to have the Devils retake the lead again 47-46 on a Mary Beth Christian (Fr., Villa Joseph Marie/Warrington, PA) layup from Edwards. USP continued to hold onto the lead building it to as many as four, 53-49 at the 9:08 mark before the Chargers scored 7 straight points to take a 56-53 lead with 6:18 left. USP bounced right back with four straight points, all by Shumoski to retake the lead 57-56 at the 4:38 mark. Rossi countered with a short baseline jumper to put Dominican back on top 58-57 with 4:16 to go, their last lead of the game. USP closed the game out with a 13-3 run over the final 4:16 to seal the nine-point win. Shumoski started the run with a steal and a layup followed by another layup off a Dominican turnover to put the Devils up by three, 61-58 with 2:41 left. Edwards followed with a big three-point field goal from the left baseline to make the margin six, 64-58 with just 2:02 left. Rossi made one of two free throws as followed with a layup after a defensive stop to pull back within three, 64-61. On the Devils next possession, Shumoski drove baseline for a layup and was fouled by Jill Younghans. Shumoski’s free throw was short but went off Rossi’s fingertips out of bounds, giving the Devils the ball back with 50 seconds left and a five-point lead 66-61. After Rossi turned the ball over, Dominican was forced to foul, putting Rance on the free throw line, twice. Shelby connected on four straight free throws to make the final score 70-61. The Devils put their shooting doldrums of the last two games behind them, shooting 55.l2% (16-29) in the first half and 50% (28-56) for the game. The Chargers finished the game shooting 38.2% (21-55). Dominican also held a slight advantage on the boards 36-31, with the bigger advantage coming on the offensive boards, 13-5. USP made 11 of 15 free throws (73.3%) to the Chargers 16-for-24 (66.7%). USP is now 15-7 overall and 13-4 in league play. Dominican drops to 11-11 overall, 9-8 in CACC action. Next up for the Devils is a home contest against Goldey Beacom College on Tuesday, February 15, 2005.