NEWARK, Del. - - Tenicia Spence hit a jumper to begin the second half and cut the deficit to four points, but a quick spurt over a five minute span allowed Caldwell to run away with an 88-66 victory over Wilmington in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference women's basketball action at the WU Athletics Complex on Saturday afternoon.
Caldwell (15-11, 13-4 CACC), the North Division's second place team, used a 20-6 run over ending with 13:59 showing on the clock in the second half to push the lead out to 20 points, taking back control of the contest.
Wilmington (3-21, 1-16 CACC) cut a 12 point first half deficit to four points with 1:38 remaining before trailing by six points, 40-34, heading into the halftime break. Spence hit the opening bucket of the second half to cut the lead to four points, but the Wildcats could not get any closer the rest of the way.
Spence, a freshman, set a new career high in points, scoring a game high 32 points, marking the second straight game in which she scored over 30 points. She tied her career high with 31 points on the road at Philadelphia on Tuesday. The 32 points moved her into fifth place all time for scoring in a single season, tallying 429 total points with two games remaining. She only trails former All-American Amelia Simmons who scored at least 540 points in each of her four years as a Wildcat. The freshman record for scoring in a season belongs to Simmons during the 2006-07 season when she scored 547 points in 28 games.
The 32 points also ties for the fifth most points scored by a single player in a game since the Wildcats joined the NCAA ranks prior to the 2004-05 season. Spence is tied with five other players who scored 32 points in a game, but the first since teammate Danielle Thomas accomplished the feat against Cheyney on November 17, 2010. Simmons holds the single games scoring record when she scored 37 points against Concordia on November 15, 2008.
On Saturday, Lauren Brown joined Spence in double digits, scoring 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Brown also dished out a career high seven assists while playing in 32 minutes. Amanda Walters came off the bench to secure a game and career high 10 rebounds.
Trailing by as many as 14 points with 7:45 to play in the first half, the Wildcats made a push to get back into the contest and carry momentum into the halftime break. Tashea Plummer made a layup to bring the Wildcats to within 10 with 3:34 to play before Brown hit a jumper and Spence hit one of her three three-pointers to close the gap to within four points at 38-34. Caldwell's Emily Caswell scored the final bucket of the first half on a layup, sending the Cougars into the break with a 40-34 lead.
Spence came out and hit the first shot of the second half after a Caldwell turnover, bring the Wildcats to within four at 40-36. Wilmington hung around for a little longer, scoring again to make it 44-38 before the Cougars used their 20-6 to pull away.
The visitors had five players in double digits, led by Jeanette Anderson who scored 25 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the floor. Anderson also went 11-of-12 from the foul line. Nicole Duryea came off the bench to score 15 points, followed by 14 points from Torey Jones. Gillian Felix added 13 points while Caswell chipped in with 12.
It was the 11th straight loss for the Wildcats and third straight to the Cougars in the all-time series. The Wildcats will look to end their season high losing streak on Thursday is the CACC makeup game against Bloomfield. The game, which was rescheduled from February 9 due to Nemo, will still be held at Bloomfield with a 6 p.m. tip.
