Goucher's Bench Contributes 30 Points to 50-47 Win

SALEM, Va. — Thanks to contributions of 15 points from Briana Bull (Baltimore, Md./Owings Mills) and 11 from Amaka Ezeani (Silver Spring, Md./Paint Branch), Goucher's bench outscored the non-starters for Roanoke, 30-12, this afternoon.

Bull, who played 31 minutes even though she wasn't in the starting lineup, had only 12 points to her credit heading into the final 30 seconds of regulation. Her layup with :24 showing on the clock snapped a 47-47 tie and her free throw 13 seconds later put the Gophers up 50-47, which turned out to be the final score when Markia Beckwith missed from 3-point range at the buzzer for the Maroons.

The three-point victory ended a six-game losing streak for head coach Didi Cotton's squad, which put one in the win column for the first time since a 70-39 triumph over Penn State-Berks back on November 22.

The Maroons (4-6) were able to erase one three-point deficit in the final minute of play. Two free throws by Jaida Scarborough (Baltimore, Md./Digital Harbor) with :54 remaining provided the Gophers (4-6) with a 47-44 lead, which was wiped out by a made 3-point basket by Meghan Gadell seven seconds later.

The two teams were never separated by more than five points at any time during the first half, which ended with Goucher on top by a point, 23-22. Cary Beahm's layup with 3:40 left to play in the period had Roanoke ahead 22-17, but a 6-0 run by the Gophers that started with a layup by Ezeani and included the only field goal of the game for Dominique White (Lubbock, Texas/Potomac Falls), was capped by another close-in basket for Ezeani.

The Gophers opened the second half by making only one of their first seven shots from the field, missing their only two free-throw attempts and committing a pair of turnovers. The Maroons took advantage, using a 10-2 run over the first 6:50 to assume a 32-25 lead.

Goucher fell behind by as many as eight points when Ellen Wagner converted a layup with 7:40 left to play, but the Gophers outscored the Maroons, 10-2, over the next four and a half minutes and tied the score at 42-42 with a made jumper by Olivia Nono (Silver Spring, Md./Montgomery Blair).

Beahm led all scorers as she supplied Roanoke with 18 points, but only two other starters and two players off the bench added points to the home team's total. The Maroons were 18-for-58 from the field (.310).

The Gophers were 0-for-8 on 3-point attempts, but they finished with a .400 shooting percentage (20-for-50) inside the 3-point stripe.

Goucher, which dropped both of the Landmark Conference games it played before the holidays, will get another shot at its first conference win of 2014-15 when it travels to Huntingdon, Pa, to take on Juniata this coming Tuesday at 7 p.m.