GREENSBORO, N.C. – Nationally ranked York College of Pennsylvania held off host Guilford College, 55-51, in Sunday’s final game of the Daly Seven Hotels Classic.
Roanoke College downed North Carolina Wesleyan College, 74-60, in Sunday’s first game of the two-day tournament in the Ragan-Brown Field House.
Ranked 18th in the current D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll and 19th in the USA Today Sports Division III Top 25 Coaches’ Poll, York (Pa.) moved to 3-0 with a strong defensive effort. Brittany Hicks paced three Spartans in double-figure scoring with 12 points and added a game-best 12 rebounds.
Guilford (2-1) rallied from sizable deficits in both halves, but could not regain the lead down the stretch. A Lila Scott three-pointer gave Guilford a 30-29 halftime lead, but York scored 12 of the second half’s first 15 points. Julianne Lambert’s three-pointer 5:51 into the half opened a 41-32 Spartans’ advantage.
As in the first half, Guilford battled back behind stingy defense and clutch three-point shooting. Morgan King scored six of her team-high nine points during a 13-5 Quakers’ run in the second half. Alex Payne’s career-high third three-pointer of the game capped the spurt and trimmed York’s lead to 46-45 with 8:23 remaining. Payne finished with nine points.
The teams played nearly five scoreless minutes before York’s Kelsey Murphy (10 points) ended the drought at the 3:46 mark with her second three-pointer of the game. The Quakers shot just five-for-24 (21%) in the half and managed only two field goals after Payne’s three-pointer.
Two Jaclyn Nucci free throws drew Guilford to within 54-51 with 41 seconds left. A Spartans’ miss at the other end gave the Quakers another offensive set, but a Scott three-pointer rimmed out to York’s Kailee Knight for the junior’s eighth rebound of the game. She made one of two free throws with seven seconds left to ice the win.
In Sunday’s first game, Paxton Gwin hit for a career-high 27 points and seven rebounds in Roanoke’s 14-point win. She made eight of her first 11 shots from the floor and had 19 first-half points, which staked the Maroons (1-2) to a 42-30 lead. Led by Gwin, Roanoke shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half and committed only four turnovers.
North Carolina Wesleyan’s Samantha Urquhart scored 11 of her team-high 19 points in the second half, but the Battling Bishops (0-2) drew no closer than eight points.
Laurel Hankins and Kelsey Smith both scored 13 points for Roanoke, who also got a career- and game-high eight assists from Rachel Dellehunt. Darreon Cole chipped in 14 points, seven rebounds and six assists for the Bishops.
Guilford’s men’s and women’s basketball teams visit Averett University Tuesday (11/20).