Greyhounds Pin 59-50 Setback on Hang-Tough Gophers

Game-Ending 7-0 Run Trims Final Margin to Single Digits

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Goucher, which has its sights set on making the Landmark Conference playoffs for the first time in 2011-12, hung with Moravian for nearly the full 40 minutes today. Even after the Greyhounds opened up their biggest advantage of the game when Alyssa Hann canned a pair of free throws to make the score 59-43 with 1:55 left to play, head coach Didi Cotton's squad closed out the game with seven straight points to make the final 59-50.

The Gophers (3-10, 0-3 Landmark) led only once the entire contest and that was when Elizabeth von Ende (Leawood, Kan./American Hebrew Academy) landed a shot from 3-point range to put Goucher up 8-7 before the game was even five minutes old. The Greyhounds (8-5, 1-2 Landmark) went back in front on their subsequent possession on a made layup by Alexis Wright, who finished with 21 points to lead all scorers.

By halftime, Moravian had expanded its cushion to 33-25, but Goucher remained within 12 points throughout the the first 10:21 of the second half and got as close as 41-36 on a made free throw by Kiara Doughty (Salisbury, Md./Wicomico). It was right after Doughty's foul shot that the Gophers hit their only rough patch during the contest as they made only one of their next 11 shots from the field and committed four turnovers in a span of nearly eight minutes.

Goucher's game-ending 7-0 run started with a free throw by Precious Kollock (Salisbury, Md./Wicomico) and ended with Kollock converting a layup with :06 showing on the clock.

Wright wasn't the only double-digit scorer for the victorious Greyhounds as Alexandra Blair produced 12 points.

For Goucher, Sharnell Huff (Bowie, Md./Bowie) wound up with a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds, while von Ende added 11 points, four rebounds and four steals.

For the first time all season, the Gophers held an opponent without a 3-point field goal as Moravian missed all five of its long-distance attempts.