Turnovers Haunt Gophers in Road Loss to Catholic

WASHINGTON — Briana Bull (Baltimore, Md./Owings Mills) poured in 15 points, and Bri Prince (Coopersburg, Pa./Southern Lehigh) added a season-high 12 points and six rebounds, but Goucher was unable to overcome a 28-turnover performance in tonight's 66-42 loss at Catholic.

Those giveaways turned into 26 points on the other end for the Cardinals (16-7, 10-4 Landmark), who moved a half-game ahead of Susquehanna for second place in the conference standings.

When the two teams met at the Decker Sports & Recreation Center back in January, the Gophers held a lead with less than three minutes to go before ultimately suffering a 57-52 setback. Tonight's contest started out close as well, with a pair of Prince free throws giving Goucher a 7-4 lead in the opening five minutes.

Catholic then went on a 13-5 run to claim the advantage, but a layup from Bull reduced the deficit to just 17-14 with 8:08 remaining in the first half. After that basket, however, the Cardinals rattled off nine consecutive points, and they took a 33-18 lead into the intermission.

The Gophers scored six of the second half's first eight points, with Prince and Bull accounting for all three field goals, to get the margin down to 11 points. The score remained close until the midway point of the half. A free throw from Olivia Nono (Silver Spring, Md./Montgomery Blair) made it 40-28, Catholic, with 11:52 to play, but an 11-0 Cardinal run followed to put the game out of reach.

Michelle DeSantis had a game-high 17 points for Catholic, while Kristen Walhelm chipped in 16 points and seven boards. The Cardinals sank 7 of 14 attempts from 3-point range and had a 13-6 edge in assists.

Prince entered having not scored more than four points in a game this season, but the freshman forward easily eclipsed that total tonight. She hit 5 of 10 attempts from the floor while playing a season-high 27 minutes. Bull followed her record breaking 9 of 9 shooting performance at Elizabethtown by drilling 6 of 13 field goals, reaching double figures in her fifth conference game of the season and 10th contest overall.

Goucher (4-17, 0-13 Landmark) returns to the SRC on Saturday for a 5 p.m. matchup against No. 14 Scranton. The Royals (21-2, 13-1 Landmark) clinched the No. 1 seed in the Landmark postseason tournament with a 69-56 win over Susquehanna earlier this evening.