MADISON, Wis. – The Edgewood College women's basketball team extended their winning streak to three games with a 68-36 victory over Dominican University on Tuesday night at the Edgedome. The Eagles limited the Stars to just 13 points in the second half and forced 29 turnovers in the runaway victory.
Edgewood College (6-8, 5-4 NACC) struggled to find the shooting range early, but fortunately kept scoring from the free throw line. The Eagles made just one of their first 10 shots, but were still tied 12-12 after Rachel Pope connected on her second basket of the game with 14:11 to go in the first half. The Dominican's Claudia DeNigris added a free throw, but that would account for the Stars' last lead of the game. Mariah Hill, and Ellyn Hayden connected on short jumpers before baskets by Courtney Spangler and Sierra Jiran put the Eagles ahead 22-14. Dominican University (1-12, 0-8 NACC) would get back to 22-20, but three-pointers by Hill and Pope and a fastbreak layup from Pope put the Eagles ahead by double digits. Hayden's second bucket of the half in the final seconds gave Edgewood College a 35-23 lead at the break.
Both teams struggle mightily to open the second half, as neither team scored a field goal until Hayden's free throw line jumper nearly six minutes into the half. Leading 39-28, the Eagles would blow the game wide open with an 18-0 run over a span of a little more than six minutes. Kortni Kohl came off the bench to make her first two shots in that decisive run, while Marissa Hoyer also scored four points for an insurmountable 57-28 Eagle lead. Eventually 12 Eagles in uniform would score at least a point on the night.
Pope led the Eagles in scoring for the 10th time this season with 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting, including a 4-for-5 effort at the three-point line. Pope also added six steals in the first half, which was just one steal short of the Edgewood College single-game school record. Hoyer scored a season-high 10 points. Hayden and Hill scored eight points apiece. Jiran led all Eagles with eight rebounds, while Spangler and Hannah Menzia tallied four assists each. Edgewood College had 18 assists on 24 field goals.
Dominican University received 10 points from Allie Tapanes who played all 40 minutes of the game. Hardin came off the bench to lead all players with nine rebounds. The Eagles limited the Stars to just 24.4 percent shooting from the field.
Edgewood College will shoot for four wins in a row with a Saturday rematch against Concordia University Chicago. The Eagles and Cougars played back on December 6 with Edgewood College claiming an 81-58 victory. Saturday's game tips off at 2:00 p.m. from the Geiseman Gymnasium in River Forest, Ill.
