Box Score Buffalo, NY – The D'Youville women's basketball team avoided the season sweep and kept their playoff hopes alive with their win over the Medaille Mavericks Wednesday evening by the final score of 79-71.
Veterans Alexis Smith (Hamburg, NY/Hamburg) and Jean-Ann Korona (Washingtonville, NY/Washingtonville) were the driving force for the Spartans on offense the whole game, and both players made themselves known in the first quarter. Smith opened the scoring with a layup for the Spartans and the two combined for the first 12 points of the game and gave D'Youville a 12-4 lead with 5:00 elapsed in the first quarter.
A little over 2 minutes later, Monica June (Buffalo, NY/Hutch Tech) gave the Spartans a 10-point lead at 18-8. Korona would close out the first quarter with 5 consecutive points and D'Youville led after one quarter by the score of 24-12.
Colleen Wirth (Elma, NY/Iroquois) extended the Spartan lead to start the second with two made free throws. Medaille closed their deficit to 5 with 3:04 gone in the second, but Korona would extend the lead back to 8 with a made three pointer. The Mavericks once again charged at the D'Youville lead and were within 2 with 1:40 to go in the half, but the Spartan seniors would give the team some cushion going into half.
Smith, along with Sarah Marino (Buffalo, NY/Holy Angels Academy) and Danette Laguerre (Buffalo, NY/Hutch Tech) scored the final 7 points for D'Youville in the second quarter and the Spartans took a 44-37 lead over the Mavericks into halftime.
The same three seniors that closed out the first half for the Spartans opened up the second half in the same fashion. Laguerre, Marino and Smith combined to score the first 13 points of the quarter and D'Youville held a 59-55 lead over Medaille with 1:39 to go in the quarter. Wirth added 2 free throws and the Spartans led after three quarters by the score of 61-56.
Magan Magee (Ellenburg Center, NY/Northern Adirondack) gave the Spartan's offense a kick to start the fourth with a three pointer and the lead was up to 8 points. The Mavericks were resilient and pulled to within 3 points with 8:01 to go in the game. Medaille then cut their deficit to 1 with 4:59 to go and posed a serious threat to the D'Youville lead.
The Spartan's top three offensive players in the game stepped up in crunch time as Korona, Marino and Smith scored the next 8 points and D'Youville regained a 7-point lead. Wirth and Korona would hit clutch free throws in the final minute of play and help clinch the game for D'Youville, winning by the final score of 79-71.
Senior and Captain Sarah Marino scored a career high 14 points in the game, adding 5 rebounds. Jean-Ann Korona recorded her fourth double-double of the season, scoring 23 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Alexis Smith tied Korona for the team high with 23 points of her own and was second to only Korona in rebounding with 8.
Danette Laguerre scored 5 points to go with her 4 assists. Colleen Wirth chipped in with 5 points and 4 assists, tied with Laguerre and Korona. Magan Magee grabbed 6 rebounds. Jean-Ann also led the team with 3 blocks and 3 steals. Wirth had 2 blocks and 2 steals herself.
D'Youville will travel to Mount Aloysius on Saturday, February 6th to play the Mounties at 3pm.
