LAKEWOOD, N.J. - - A big second quarter allowed Georgian Court to take an important Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference South Division contest, 88-70, over the Wilmington University women's basketball team inside the Wellness Center on Wednesday night.
Without the second quarter, the two teams would have tied, 64-64, proving how important a full 40 minutes of game truly is. Georgian Court led after the first quarter, 16-15, and then outscored the Wildcats, 24-6, in the second quarter. Wilmington won the third quarter, 22-21, and the teams tied the fourth frame, 27-27.
The night started well for the Wildcats (1-15, 0-6 CACC), as they raced out to an 8-0 lead just 1:36 into the contest. The Lions (2-12, 2-3 CACC) answered right back with an 11-2 run to take an 11-10 lead. Amber Washington hit a three-pointer to regain the lead, 13-11, and then Aniyah Bond hit two from the foul line to give the Wildcats a 15-14 lead with 47 seconds to play in the first. Unfortunately, that would be the final lead of the night for the Wildcats. The Lions hit one more bucket and led, 16-15, after the first quarter.
The Lions started the second quarter on an 8-0 run before Mia Fuller put in a layup with 6:25 to play in the quarter. Another 10-0 spurt put the Lions up, 38-19, and then they beat the buzzer to take a 40-21 lead into the halftime break. The Wildcats went 3-for-15 from the floor in the quarter while Georgian Court shot 10-of-18 with two three-pointers to take command.
Georgian Court took their largest lead of the game in the third quarter, 50-25, but then the Wildcats finished out the third quarter on an 18-11 run to close the gap to 18 points going in to the final frame. Mia Fuller led the team during that stretch with nine points, including a personal 7-0 run.
The Wildcats used a 7-0 run in the middle of the fourth quarter to shrink the deficit to as few as 14 points with 5:15 to play, 71-51. But that would be as close as they could get, as the Lions hung on for the victory.
Aniyah Bond led the Wildcats with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting, hitting 4-of-6 from beyond the three-point arc. Mia Fuller scored 19 points while adding a career high eight assists and four steals. Trinity Brittingham added 18 points while hitting 3-of-7 from deep and grabbing four rebounds and three steals. Daja Claiborne led the Wildcats with seven rebounds and three blocks.
The Wildcats return home for their next contest, welcoming crosstown rival Goldey-Beacom to the WU Athletics Complex next Tuesday night. The women start the doubleheader with a 6:00 p.m. opening tip.