cabrini athletic departmentSophomore Kate Walck and junior Nikki Duggan combined for 26 points in a 50 point route of Cedar Crest College on Saturday, Dec. 1 at the Dixon Center.
The lady Cavaliers improve to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference so far this season.
Cabrini forced 27 Cedar Crest turnovers while putting 16 different Cavaliers in the scoring column.
“It was the first time this year we were able to clear our bench and everyone who was able to got minutes,” Junior English and communications major Nikki Duggan said.
Duggan came off the bench in the first half and sparked the Cavaliers to squashing any hopes the Falcons had of making a comeback.
Junior Melissa Benedetti contributed eight points in the game while seven other lady Cav’s had six a piece.
“I thought it was a good game that got everyone minutes, which is good because it helps the second string and younger players get experience. As a team I thought we played together and unselfish,” Benedetti said.
“I think our defense, for the most part, has been pretty strong all year but we still need to work on our offense. I think we have gotten great play from our guards ; sophomores Deana DiAmico, Kate Walck and Alyssa Brady have been playing real well,” Head Coach Bobbi Morgan said.
“Defense is something that we are really focusing on this year so going into this game we did not want to allow a lot of points. Our defense was definitely very strong throughout the game,” Duggan said.
“The big win was Thursday (66-62 at Neumann). I thought we gave a really gritty effort to win down there. We made big plays when we had to,” Morgan said about the teams early success.
Junior Kayleen Smith and sophomore Kate Walck led the team with six rebounds a piece, leading the Cavaliers to a 56-26 advantage on the boards. Brady and DiAmico led the team with seven combined steals.
“We knew going into the game that Cedar Crest was not as strong of a team but we couldn’t take them for granted. We played really well throughout the entire game as a team and a lot of girls contributed,” Duggan said.
“We have gotten some good leadership from our juniors, captains Kate Ryan and Brit McLeod as well as from some others like Kayleen Smith, Nikki Duggan and Casey Kyler. We are not a young team anymore and they are starting to prove that in the way they play,” Morgan said.
The Lady Cavaliers will look to improve their record this week with games against Desales University and Albright College.
