Box Score Buffalo, NY – The D'Youville Women's Basketball Team fell to the Franciscan Barons Saturday afternoon at the Senior Game in the College Center Gym by the final score of 52-39. Seniors Casey Bartels (Massapequa, NY/Massapequa), Jillian Piniewski (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca) and Bridget Andrews (Amherst, NY/Sacred Heart Academy) were celebrated and concluded their Spartan careers on Saturday afternoon.
Andrews, the most recent member of the 1,000 point club, scored the first basket of the game for D'Youville. A timeout was called by Head Coach Dan Glover and the team celebrated Andrew's achievement on her home court, as she scored her 1,000th point on the road against Pitt.-Bradford on February 11th.
Both offenses struggled to begin the game. Through the first 5 minutes of the game, the two teams had combined for only 4 points. Casey Bartels put D'Youville ahead with 14:21 to go in the first half by scoring a layup, followed by a made free throw. Franciscan would answer on their next possession to trail by 1, but Jean-Ann Korona (Washingtonville, NY/Washingtonville) gave the Spartans a 3 point lead once again after a layup conversion. Both teams would again go cold from the field until Alexis Smith (Hamburg, NY/Hamburg) scored over 2 minutes later on a good jump shot.
Smith's jumper gave the D'Youville offense a boost, which was added on by Sarah Marino (Buffalo, NY/Holy Angels Academy) after she drilled a three-pointer. The Spartan offense would once again go cold, going without a basket for nearly 6 minutes, allowing the Barons the opportunity to get back into the game. Franciscan pulled the game within 2 until Smith made 2 free throws to give the Spartans a 16-12 lead with 4:32 remaining in the half. Marino sank another three-pointer to give the offense another jolt, but the Barons would pick up the pace and tie the game. Bartels made 2 free throws with :06 seconds left and sent D'Youville into the half up by the score of 21-19.
The second half was a similar story for D'Youville's offense as is it was in the first half. Franciscan took over the lead just over a minute into the half, with D'Youville providing no answer until an Andrews made three-pointer 2:48 into the second half. Smith would make the next 2 shots for the Spartans as they trailed by 2 to the Barons. Piniewski would make a layup with 10:29 remaining in the second half, but that would be the closest D'Youville would get to retaking the lead from the Barons for the rest of the game.
Franciscan would extend their lead to 6 with 9:34 remaining in the game, and then begin to pull away. The Barons made a three-pointer with 5:15 to go, but it was answered by Bartels in an effort to get back into the game. D'Youville's offense couldn't get going again, scoring 7 points in the final 5 minutes, including the last basket made by Ali Cochrane (New Port Richey, FL/Gulf), which was a three-pointer. D'Youville fell to Franciscan by the final score of 52-39.
Casey Bartels closed out her career as a Spartan by leading the team with 9 points. Jillian Piniewski had a team high 11 rebounds to close out her D'Youville career, also scoring 4 points. Bartels grabbed 7 rebounds of her own and had 3 assists. Bridget Andrews had 7 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals to close out her historic 4 year career at D'Youville.
Alexis Smith led all bench players with 8 points and 7 rebounds. Jean-Ann Korona had 9 rebounds and 2 points to go along with her 2 blocks. Awilda Murphy (Kenmore, NY/Sacred Heart Academy) had 2 steals and 2 rebounds. Sarah Marino drilled two triples, while Ali Cochrane had a three of her own.
All 12 players who dressed for D'Youville saw playing time, including Morgan McDermott (Hamburg, NY/Nichols), Mary Roberts (Rochester, NY/Northstar Christian Academy), Hannah Simone (Wayland, NY/Bishop Kearney) and Alyssa Donnelly (Alden, NY/Nardin Academy).
