Box Score
SELINSGROVE, Pa. – Leading by five points with less than
three minutes to play, the Susquehanna women's basketball
team could not hang on against Wilkes, falling 75-73 in the final
minute of Wednesday night's action.
Wilkes (3-5) scored the final four points of the game, all in
the final 20 seconds, to come from behind and snap
Susquehanna's (4-4) three-game win streak.
The Crusaders saw four players reach double figures, led by
Shannon Grunwald's (Neshanic Station,
N.J./Somerville) career-best 23 points on a 9-of-14
shooting effort, with 15 of those points coming from three-point
range.
Senior Rachael Hughes (Gordon, Pa./North
Schuylkill) added 14 points while Gina Palazzi
(Newfoundland, Pa./Wallenpaupack) and Erika Barron
(Tamaqua, Pa./Tamaqua Area) finished with 11 and 10,
respectively. Barron added a game-high four steals, as well.
Palazzi also recorded a double-double with her team-high 11
rebounds. The Colonels still managed to edge SU in rebounds,
however, by a 52-46 margin and scored 18 points in the paint to
Susquehanna's six.
The teams battled back and forth for the majority of the game,
as there were 11 lead changes over the 40 minutes of action.
SU jumped out to the lead first, and Grunwald gave her squad a
four-point edge (29-25) with five minutes left in the first half on
a three-pointer, one of her five in the game. With 1:33 on the
clock, Palazzi made it a five-point Crusaders lead and as the half
came to a close, SU held a 40-37 advantage.
Susquehanna led for the first seven-plus minutes of the second
half until Wilkes went up 53-51 on a three by Erin Schneider.
The Crusaders quickly regained the lead, though, and built a
nine-point cushion (62-53) on a Samantha Cartwright
(Cranford, N.J./Cranford) jumper with 9:46 remaining.
At the three-minute mark, SU still led by five, 71-66, but five
unanswered points by the Colonels knotted it at 71 with 52 seconds
on the clock.
Two Palazzi free throws with 36 seconds to play gave SU a slim,
73-71 lead, but a Sam Lynam three-point play combined with Megan
Kazmerski's free throw with four seconds to play handed
Susquehanna the two-point loss.
Next game: Saturday, Dec. 11 at Montclair State – 2
p.m.
