Gophers Suffer Seven-Point Loss to Rangers

Gophers Suffer Seven-Point Loss to Rangers

Seventh Double-Double Keeps Smith as Leading Rebounder

January 30, 2009

TOWSON, Md. – Goucher's Amber Smith (Baltimore, Md./Institute of Notre Dame) gave another demonstration in tonight's home game against Drew why she is one of only four players who rank among the top 10 scorers and the top 10 rebounders in the Landmark Conference.

The junior forward tallied 18 points and hauled in 11 rebounds, but her seventh double-double of the season took place in a 59-52 loss to the Rangers in the Sports & Recreation Center.

With her performance tonight, Smith moved ahead of Merchant Marine's Stephanie Waller and into third place in scoring in the Landmark Conference, averaging 14.7 points per game. She is the top rebounder in the conference at 9.2 per contest.

The two teams were never separated by more than four points at any time during the first half tonight and what ultimately provided the Gophers (5-12, 1-7 Landmark) with a 28-26 lead at the break was an offensive rebound and basket by Tai Young (Lexington Park, Md./Great Mills) with just :16 showing on the clock.

The Rangers (9-8, 3-5 Landmark) wasted little time at the beginning of the second half regaining the lead and then adding to it. In the opeing 2:00 of the period, they first caught the Gophers on a lay-up by Jessica Del Vecchio and then went ahead on a basket by Emma Grossman. In fact, by the time Goucher scored its first points of the second half after nearly six minutes, Drew had opened up a 40-28 advantage by rattling off 14 unanswered points.

The Gophers stopped the bleeding with a basket by Leia Roberts-Brown (Capitol Heights, Md./Archbishop Carroll), but the Rangers maintained at least a nine-point lead until Goucher strung together 10 consecutive points late in the contest. The first five points of the run were provided by Elizabeth von Ende (Leawood, Kan./American Hebrew Academy), who finished with 12 points, and then came a three-point field goal by Roberts-Brown that cut Drew's advantage to 56-50 with 3:27 left to play.

Smith's lay-up with 2:03 remaining made the score 56-52, but that's where the comeback began to fizzle out. The rest of the way, the Gophers were 0-for-4 from the field and missed their only free-throw attempt.

Drew's Danielle Barber missed becoming the first female to achieve a triple-double in the history of the SRC by one rebound. The freshman guard finished with 12 points and 12 assists, tying the SRC record for most assists in a game, but grabbed only nine rebounds.