Sacred Heart Women's Basketball Grinds Out 69-61 Win at Princeton
12/7/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
SHU built their lead to as many as nine points but could not pull away, as Princeton cut that lead down to two with just 1:44 to play when Bagnell answered the bell again. The sophomore point guard hit a runner in the lane to break the Tiger's 7-1 run.
In a game that saw 50 combined fouls and three player foul out, the Pioneers managed to shoot 42.3% (22-52) from the field and did just enough at the foul line, 20-of-26 (76.9%) to outlast the Tigers. Four Pioneers managed double figures on the evening, led by senior co-captains Brooke Rutnik (Albany, NY) and Brooke Kelly (Medford, NJ) who finished with 13 points apiece before fouling out. Bagnell chipped in10 of her own on the evening while grabbing six boards with three steals and three assists. Rutnik was a force all night underneath, grabbing nine boards, blocking two shots, forcing two steals and handing out two assists to go with her 13 points. Kelly's 13 points moves her into eighth place on the Sacred Heart all-time scoring list. The senior forward now has 1,033 career points moving her past last season's captain Leslie Newhard (1,030).
Junior Kate Maher (Waterford, Ireland) led the Pioneer bench with 12 points, on a perfect shooting night, three-of-three from the field and six-of-six from the charity stripe. Maher also made her presence known on the glass, grabbing eight rebounds.
Princeton junior Kelly Schaeffer led all scorers on the evening hitting for 16 points on four-of-eight shooting and eight-of-nine from the free throw line. Junior forward Eileen Powers was the only other Tiger in double figures, finishing with 10 points in the loss. Princeton, now 3-4 on the season, shot just 36.5% from the field and managed just one-of-11 from three-point range. After hitting all nine of their free throws in the first half, the Tigers shot just 65% (13-20) in the second half.
Sacred Heart returns, now 3-1, return to action in one week when they take on Wagner College in the William H. Pitt Center at 2 pm in their Northeast Conference opener.
