Five Players Reach Double Figures as Devils Defeat Deacons

Basketball Spotlight:
Five Players Reach Double Figures as Devils Defeat Deacons

The University of the Sciences in Philadelphia placed five players in double figures as they rebounded from Monday night's loss to Holy Family with a 71-56 win over Bloomfield College in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference women's basketball game tonight at the Bobby Morgan Arena in Philadelphia.

The win improves the Devils record to 15-8 overall and 12-6 in league games. Bloomfield falls to 11-10 overall and 10-7 in league games. The win moves the Devils into a tie for fourth place in the league standings with Goldey Beacom College, who lost tonight to Philadelphia University.

Shelby Rance (Sr., Central Columbia HS/Bloomsburg, Pa.) led the Devils with 15 points. Rance also had five rebounds, four steals and two blocked shots. Allison Weiss (So., Springfield HS/Springfield, Pa.) had 14 points (7-9 FG) and nine rebounds. Rashanna Edwards (Sr., West Windsor-Plainsboro HS/Cherry Hill, N.J.) had 13 points and eight assists while Erin Chesnavich (Fr., Bishop O’Reilly HS/Pittston, Pa.) added 11 points. Hayley Lentz (Jr., Wilson Area HS/Easton, Pa.) came off the bench for the Devils to score 10 points and pull down six boards. Lori Sedina (Sr., Lower Cape May HS (NJ)/Springfield, Pa.) had four of the Devils season-high 10 blocks on the evening while dishing out a career-high seven assists.

Shantae Barnes recorded a double-double for the Deacons with 19 points (9-11 FT) and 14 rebounds. Emily Horrocks (4 points) and Marissa Franklin (8 points) each pulled down 10 boards.

For three-fourths of the first half, neither team led by more than four points with five ties and two lead changes. It was after the second lead change which saw the deacons go up by one 23-22 at the 6:52 mark that the devils closed out the half with a 14-6 run to take a seven point lead at the break. Weiss started the run with a pair of layups and after a Deacon score, Lentz added a layup and Weiss a jumper to make the score 30-25. Horrocks followed with a layup to cut the lead to three, 30-27 before USP ran off six straight points (five by Kaitlin DuRoss (Fr., Ocean City HS/Sea Isle City, N.J.)) to go up by nine, 36-27 with time winding down. Ciera Darby's put-back at the buzzer made it 36-29 at the break.

Weiss opened the second half with a layup to make the score 38-29 and the Deacons followed with a basket by Franklin and two free throws from Barnes to pull Bloomfield within five 38-33 at the 18:45 mark. The Devils followed with a 17-2 run to boost their lead to 20, 55-35 at the 11:54 mark. Weiss had two baskets to start the run and Rance added a basket to give USP a double-digit lead for the first time, 44-33 and force a Deacon timeout.

After the timeout, Weiss, Rance, Edwards and Lentz all connected and the Devils lead ballooned to 52-33. Darby's basket at the 13:20 mark stopped the onslaught temporarily but was followed by Rance's third three-point field goal of the game to end the run and give USP a 20-point lead. USP took their biggest lead of 21 points with 6:45 left on a Chesnavich jumper to make the score 62-41 before the Deacons made on last push, going on a 10-2 run to cut the deficit to 13, 64-51 with 2:13 left. This was as close as Bloomfield would get as the Devils made five of eight free throws in the final two minutes and added layup by Lentz to seal the win, 71-56.

The Devils made 28 of 55 shots (5-7 3 FG) from the field in the game to shoot 50.9%, including a 13-25 effort in the second half (52%). The strong shooting helped offset a 51-38 rebound disadvantage with 29 of the Deacons boards coming on the offensive glass. Bloomfield shot 31.4% (23-74, 1-5 3FG) for the game and was 9-18 from the free throw line (50%). The Devils also shot 50% from the free throw line (10-20) while committing 17 turnovers (20 assists). The Deacons had 18 turnovers (3 assists).

The Devils take to the road again as they travel to Orangeburg, New York to take on Dominican College in a pivotal CACC matchup on Saturday, February 11, 2007. Tip off is set for 1 p.m.