Pacers Deny Gophers First Title Since 1999

Pacers Deny Gophers First Title Since 1999

Smith Tallies 13 Points, Lands on All-Tournament Team

November 22, 2008

SCRANTON, Pa. – Goucher, seeking its first 3-0 start to a season since 1993-94, instead suffered a 72-57 loss to Marywood this afternoon in the championship game of the Coca-Cola Tip-Off Classic.

The Gophers trailed 34-31 at the end of the first half, but by socring the first nine points of the second half, they were able to gain a six-point lead over the Pacers (2-0). During that run they went 4-for-5 from the field.

The rest of the way, however, Goucher was able to make only five of the 23 shots (.217) it attempted, while Marywood's shooting percentage in the second half exceeded 50 percent (14-for-27). Midway through the period, the Pacers snapped a 43-43 tie by going on a 9-2 run and the Gophers never got closer than five points after that.

The Pacers assumed their biggest lead of the contest when Mariah Schaeffer canned a pair of free throws with :41 remaining, making the score 72-54. Leia Roberts-Brown (Capitol Heights, Md./Archbishop Carroll) closed out the scoring when she connected from three-point range for Goucher with :09 showing on the clock.

The two free throws capped a 20-point performance that helped earn Schaeffer tournament MVP honors.

The leading scorer for Goucher (2-1) was Kelsey Myette (Binghamton, N.Y./Seton Catholic Central) with 14 points. Amber Smith (Baltimore, Md./Institute of Notre Dame), who earned a spot on the all-tournament team, supplied the Gophers with 13 points and Roberts-Brown added 11 points.

Not only would a victory have given Goucher its first 3-0 start to a season since the 1993-94 campaign began with consecutive wins over Lincoln, 109-29, Averett, 58-46, and Immaculata, 83-64, but it would also have provided the Gophers with their first in-season tournament championship since they turned back Chestnut Hill, 71-59, to finish in first place at the 1999 Goucher Tip-Off Tournament.