Stupinski Leads Five Players In Double Figures With 12 Points As Women's Basketball Wraps Up Unbeaten Stay In Sunshine State With 76-68 Non-League Victory Over 11th-Ranked West Texas A&M At Disney Division II Tip-Off Classic
November 5, 2006
STONEHILL WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Third Round – 2006 Disney Division II Tip-Off Classic
Sunday, November 5, 2006
Disney's Wide World of Sports, Orlando, Fla.
FINAL: STONEHILL 76, WEST TEXAS A&M 68
ORLANDO, Fla.-- Junior Erika Stupinski (Topsham, Maine) led five players in double figures with 12 points on four three-pointers to lead Stonehill to a 76-68 non-league college women's basketball victory over 11th-ranked West Texas A&M in third round play of the 2006 Disney Division II Tip-Off Classic Sunday afternoon at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex.
The Skyhawks, who won all three games in the tournament to begin the year at 3-0, blistered the nets at a 53 percent clip in the opening 20 minutes of play, as Stonehill scored the 12 of the final 14 points over the final 3:23 of the first half to extend a two-point lead to 12 points at 42-30 at the break. The Lady Buffs, who fall to 2-1 on the season, responded by scoring 15 of the first 17 points after intermission to take their only lead of the day at 45-44 with 14:17 to play on a lay-in by sophomore Courtney Lee (Arlington, Tex.), but the Skyhawks came back to forge a five point lead (58-53) with 8:42 remaining on a lay-in by junior Daryl Cioffi (New Milford, N.J.).
West Texas A&M cut that margin back to three before Stonehill used a quick 8-0 run over a 1:41 stretch to take an 11-point cushion at 66-55 with 6:19 to go on a lay-in by senior Tiffany Huggins (Stoughton, Mass.), and the Skyhawks maintained no less than a seven point cushion until the final 3:28 when the Lady Buffs made one last 7-0 run to cut their deficit to a bucket at 70-68 on a lay-in by sophomore Mariah Willis (Odessa, Tex.) with 39 seconds remaining. Stonehill iced its triumph with six free throws in the final 23 seconds of action, including four by freshman Megan Methven (Corning, N.Y.) and a pair by senior Kim Morast (Bridgewater, Mass.), to account for the final score and give the Skyhawks their first win over a top-11 team since last January.
Huggins, Morast and senior Alisha Collins (Port Chester, N.Y.) each netted 11 points in the triumph for the Skyhawks, who also received 10 points from Methven. Collins and sophomore Bethany Tighe (North Easton, Mass.) each grabbed five rebounds for Stonehill, which shot 52 percent from the field overall and 67 percent from three-point range, as the Skyhawks canned 10-of-15 attempts from behind the arc. The win lifted Stonehill Head Coach Trisha Brown into second place on the school's career victories list with 99 triumphs to date.
Willis led all scorers with 23 points and six rebounds in the setback for West Texas A&M, which also received 20 points from sophomore Emily Brister (Amarillo, Tex.) and 13 points from Lee. Senior Kara Pridey (Salina, Kan.) grabbed a game-high nine rebounds for the Lady Buffs, who shot 42 percent from the field but converted only 13-of-21 attempts from the charity stripe on the day.
Stonehill begins Northeast-10 Conference play on Tuesday, November 21st when the Skyhawks host Southern New Hampshire in a league outing at Merkert Gymnasium beginning at 5:30 p.m.