Goucher Women's Basketball Drops A 66-54 Contest To Moravian

TOWSON, Md. – Goucher College showed plenty of heart and battled Moravian College for 40 minutes, but the Greyhounds came away with the 66-54 victory in Landmark Conference women's basketball action on Monday. 

Anise Williams (West Palm Beach, Fla./The Benjamin School) paced the Gophers with 19 points, five steals, four assists and four rebounds. The freshman has scored double figures in five-straight games and 14 of 17 contests. She narrowly missed her fourth 20-point performance of the season by one point. The freshman has recorded five steals in three-straight games and five time this season. In her last three games, she is averaging 6.7 steals in her last three contests. She ranks second with 14.2 points per game.

Alayna McFadden (Silver Spring, Md./Montgomery Blair) added 12 points, eight rebounds and three steals. The freshman recorded half of her points from the free throw line, going a perfect 6-for-6 in the freebie lane. McFadden has reached double digits in scoring in four-consecutive contests, seven of her last eight and 13 times this season. She now has eight boards in each of her last two games and posted eight caroms 11 times in 2018-19. McFadden leads the team with 14.2 points and 8.6 rebounds game.

Nicole Wolard (Tampa, Fla./Wharton) chipped in 11 points and five boards. The senior has registered double figures in points in back-to-back games, four of her last five contests and 12 times on the year. In addition, she has hauled in five rebounds in all but one game and finished that tilt with four caroms. The senior ranks third on the team with 10.4 points and second with 7.4 rebounds per game. 

After Moravian scored the first three points of the game, the Gophers answered with baskets by Jorryn Avery (Glen Burnie, Md./Severn School) and Williams to take a 4-3 lead. Williams handed Goucher a 6-5 edge before McFadden tied the game at 8 and Williams gave the Towson program the lead for the third time on the afternoon on a trey with 4:19 left in the first quarter.  A Williams layup restored a three-point lead with 2:23 left and McFadden made two charity tosses with 1:52 for a 15-13 advantage. The Greyhounds scored the final four points to go into the second quarter with a 17-15 lead.

McFadden tied the game at 17 on a jumper with 9:38 on the clock in the second half. After Moravian scored 10 unanswered points to take a 27-17 lead, Williams and Wolard combined to score the next five points to cut the margin in half. Shelby Apostol (Oxnard, Calif./Saint Bonaventure) once again made it a five-point game on a trey with 1:52, but the Greyhounds went into the locker room with a 34-27 advantage.

In the third quarter, Moravian grabbed a double-digit lead several times, but with the Greyhounds holding a 46-35 lead the Gophers used a 9-2 spurt to make it a 48-44 game with 1:16 left in the third frame. Wolard had four points and McFadden two points before Apostol drained a triple to cap the run. The visitors closed the stanza by scoring three of the final four points to go into the final frame with a 51-45 edge.

McFadden started the fourth with two charity tosses to cut the margin to four points and Goucher even recorded a steal for a chance to make it a one possession game before turning the ball over. Moravian then closed the game on a 15-7 run to earn the win.

Apostol finished the game with eight rebounds while Avery had six defensive boards in the game.

Goucher returns to action and starts a two-game road trip at Catholic University of America on Wednesday. Game time is 7 p.m.