WORCESTER, PA (December 31, 2021) -- Graduate student guard Erin McQuillen tallied her 1,000th career point Friday afternoon at Worcester Polytechnic Institute on the way to a game-high 27 points, but the host Engineers were able to pull away late for a 73-57 win over the Susquehanna University women's basketball team in the finale of the WPI Holiday Tournament. 

McQuillen became the 13th player in program history to get to 1,000 points for her career, and moved into the No. 11 spot on the all-time scoring list with her 27 points Friday. McQuillen passed Courtney Adams '18 (1,001) and Kay Czap '88 (1,004) on the scoring ledger at Susquehanna and now sits with 1,019 points for her career. She became the first player at SU to get to 1,000 points since Adams in 2018. 
 

Rank	All-Time Points Lists at Susquehanna	Points
1	Deb Yeasted (81-85)	2,075
2	Kristen Venne (96-99)	1,929
3	Karyn Kern (97-01)	1,773
4	Laurie Pankuck (88-91)	1,539
5	Kristie Maravalli (90-93)	1,439
6	Megan Lytle (92-95)	1,401
7	Sandy Bartle (83-86)	1,108
8	Alison Hepler (92-95)	1,090
9	Ruth Athey (81-84)	1,078
10	Nikki Komara (13-17)	1,069
11	Erin McQuillen (17-22)	1,019
12	Kay Czap (85-88)	1,004

The River Hawks (8-3) came out quick in the contest, as McQuillen scored eight of the first 11 points for the River Hawks to put SU up 11-6. With the score 9-6 SU, McQuillen was fouled and connected on both freebies to get to the milestone point tally. The River Hawks upped their advantage up to seven at 13-6 on an Amanda Lemire bucket, before taking a 13-11 lead into the first quarter break. 

The host Engineers (9-1) came out in the second quarter on a 7-0 run to take a five-point lead at 18-13, but the River Hawks powered back to cut the host's lead to just one at 22-21 after an Olivia Brandt lay-up. WPI pushed its lead back up to a five-point advantage at the break. McQuillen and Brandt each had 10 points at the break to pace the River Hawks. 

After the halftime intermission, WPI took the game's first double-digit lead at 39-27 after an Alex Scariati triple. An 8-2 mini-run by SU, led by McQuillen's three buckets pulled the River Hawks back to a six-point deficit at 41-35. The River Hawks got as close as four points in the third quarter with 1:31 to go in the stanza after a triple from senior Sadie Comfort, but the Engineers took a five-point spread into the fourth quarter at 46-41. 

Late in the fourth quarter and with Susquehanna down just seven, WPI put together an 11-2 run to pull away for the home victory. The 27 points for McQuillen tied a career-high from earlier this season against Elizabethtown College on December 4, 2021. McQuillen was 11-of-19 from the floor, hitting 3-of-7 from deep. 

Brandt registered 16 points and seven rebounds, making six of her seven attempts from the field including all but one of her five shots from deep. Lemire also scored eight points to go with a team-high four helpers for SU. The story of the game was the bench scoring and points in the paint, as WPI outscored Susquehanna 34-18 in points in the paint. The bench tally favored the hosts 38-6. 

In the final game of the WPI Holiday Tournament, McKenna Finken earned MVP honors, as the tournament title is the second of the season for the Engineers who also captured the Worcester City Tournament title to start off the season. Bates' Meghan Graff, Susquehanna's Erin McQuillen and Olivia Brandt and WPI's Kara O'Neil and Finken were all named to the All-Tournament team.
 
The trio of Scariati, Adrianna Niles and O'Neil accounted for 44 of the Engineers' 73 points on the afternoon. Scariati finished with 17 points while also adding two steals and three assists, Niles chipped in 15 points and five rebounds and O'Neil added 12 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals on the afternoon. 

Up Next

• Prior to the game, Susquehanna announced the postponement of the January 3 game at York College. With the cancellation, the River Hawks will now turn their attentions back to conference action, hosting Catholic University January 8 at 4 p.m. in Selinsgrove, PA at O.W. Houts Gymnasium. 

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