ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. -- Down two at halftime, the Elizabethtown College women's basketball team used a strong third quarter to get away from Dickinson in Saturday's 64-56 season-opening win at Thompson Gymnasium.
Summer McNulty led all scorers with 18 points while
Makenna Mummert and
Cyleigh Wilson each had 14 for the Jays.
Wilson, McNulty, and Mummert got Elizabethtown (1-0), ranked No. 18 in the preseason D3hoops.com Top 25 poll to begin the year, out to a quick 6-0 lead. Mummert's layup almost halfway through the first had Etown ahead by 10, 14-4, as they seemed poised to pull away early on. Dickinson (0-1) didn't allow that as a 10-0 run got them right back into the game, tying the game up at 14-14 with 2:16 left in the opening quarter.
Caitlin Blackman's jumper with a second left on the clock made it a two-point game at the end of the first as the Jays went into the second up 20-18.
Elizabethtown was just 2-for-8 in the second quarter and scored as many from the foul line as they did from the field (4-for-6 FT). The Red Devils outscored Etown 12-8 in the second and flipped the script as they led by two at the break. Mummert had a team-high 10 first-half points.
McNulty, who had six in the first half, was aggressive in the third, going hard to the hole and finishing around the basket to the tune of 10 points, nearly half of the Blue Jays' third-quarter output. Etown had a six-point lead after McNulty's layup when Wilson drilled her second trey of the game to increase the lead to nine with 3:15 remaining.
Dickinson was able to cut it back to five points, but McNulty was fouled on her shot attempt with time winding down in the third and sank both free throws. She was 6-for-6 in the game from the charity stripe and as a team, Elizabethtown shot 21-for-25 (84 percent). They led 51-44 after three.
As the Red Devils trimmed their deficit to four with a little over five minutes left,
Jessica King picked off a pass and went down to the other end, took the bump and converted the layup to go for the three-point play. She sank her foul shot to push the lead back up to seven for the Jays.
Mummert had four straight points for Etown as they held Dickinson scoreless over a two-minute stretch. Her jumper with 3:53 to go made it 60-51.
Dickinson got five quick points with under three minutes showing, but the Blue Jays would knock down their free throws over the final 30 seconds as Wilson and King each hit a pair from the line to close out Saturday's win.
McNulty had a game-high 18 points while Mummert and Wilson each shot 5-for-10 from the floor. Mummert's 14 were a career-high. The three combined to go 12-for-12 at the free throw line.
DaniRae Renno had a game-high 10 rebounds while King added eight. Clair Marion had 16 for the Red Devils to lead the way for Dickinson.
Elizabethtown will host Misericordia on Tuesday, November 14, at 7 p.m.
Â
