Gophers Put Away Mariners Thanks to Strong Finish

Huff Becomes First Goucher Player to Exceed 20 Points This Season

KINGS POINT, N.Y. — Sharnell Huff (Bowie, Md./Bowie) became the first Goucher player to exceed 20 points in a game this season as she poured in 24 points this afternoon to lead the Gophers past the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, 69-59, in Landmark Conference action.

The freshman guard tallied nine points in the first half, which ended with the Gophers (2-11, 2-3 Landmark) leading 26-23 even though they were ahead by as many as 14 points at one point in the period.

The lead changed hads seven times in the opening 8:32 of the second half before the Mariners (5-9, 0-5 Landmark) went on a 15-3 run to open up a 55-45 advantage with 8:18 left to play.

Starting with a basket by Leia Roberts-Brown (Capitol Heights, Md./Archbishop Carroll) that made the score 55-47 with 7:34 remaining, the Gophers were successful with seven of their next 10 shots from the field. They caught the Mariners at 57-57 with 5:02 left to play on a 3-pointer by Huff and went ahead to stay on a 3-pointer by Elizabeth von Ende (Leawood, Kan./American Hebrew Academy) on their very next possession.

von Ende, who backed up Huff's career-best scoring effort by contributing 16 points of her own to the win, nailed another 3-point attempt with 1:51 showing on the clock. After that, the Gophers padded their four-point lead by going 6-of-9 at the free-throw stripe.

By going 15-for-22 from the floor in the second half, the Gophers wound up with a season-high .543 shooting percentage.

Conversely, after Rebecca Grimes scored in the paint for Merchant Marine with 2:15 remaining to reduce Goucher's lead to 60-59, the Mariners missed their final three field-goal attempts and committed a pair of turnovers.

The Gophers, who snapped an 11-game losing streak by knocking off Drew, 55-51, on Friday, put together back-to-back wins for the first time since they defeated Hood and Salisbury three days apart in December 2009.