USMMA Rolls Past Polytechnic
KINGS POINT, N.Y. - The United States Merchant Marine Academy women's basketball team continued its best start in program history with a convincing 78-34 victory over Polytechnic on Monday evening. Four Mariners - Nicole Barriga, Meghan Dillard, Rebecca Grimes and Karen Taylor - set or matched a career high while four others - Kristen Hetsko, Brooke Picillo, Kaitlin Mulgrew and Hannah Eko - set or matched season best marks.
USMMA improved to 7-3 overall. Polytechnic dropped to 2-6 overall.
"I thought the team did extremely well defensively, especially in the second half," said Head Coach Mike Murray. "They came out and did a good a job tonight, and I was pleased with the all-around effort from everybody."
Contributions came from anyone and everyone on the Mariners this evening. Stephanie Waller had a team high 15 points and added six rebounds. Picillo scored 14 points and matched a season high with six steals. The sophomore point guard has accumulated six picks in four of the 10 games this winter. Janay Weathers netted 10 points and pulled down a team best eight rebounds.
USMMA's bench outscored Polytechnic's by a count of 34-5. Grimes and Mulgrew each contributed eight points while Rebecca Grimes set a career mark with two blocks. Dillard and Barriga each set career high in scoring with four and three points, respectively.
Polytechnic was led by Shelby Lipka's 14 points and 17 rebounds. Kristen Partch, who came into the contest averaging 20 points per game, was held to four points by the Mariner defense while starting center Jackie Calanriello only managed two points and four rebounds.
"It was our goal to shut down (Kristen Partch)," said Head Coach Mike Murray. "We knew she was averaging 20 points a game. We just wanted to keep it to half of her average, so holding her to four was even better."
USMMA scored the first 12 points of the game in the opening 3:25 before Consuelo Aranda could stop bleeding at 16:22 to make it a 12-2 advantage for the blue and grey. Morgan Gartner scored six points during the Mariner run.
Holding on to a 28-18 advantage with five minutes left in the half, USMMA went on a 10-0 run before Polytechnic scored the final three points before the recess. Mulgrew hit her first of two three-point field goals to start things off. Picillo stole the ball at midcourt and went in for a fast break layup to give the Mariners a 33-18. Following a Mulgrew free throw, Grimes netted a bucket on another fast break to double up the score at 36-18. After a made free throw by Lipka, the teams traded baskets and the Mariners took a 38-21 lead into halftime.
The Mariners opened the second half on another big scoring run by scoring 22 straight points to take a 60-21 lead. USMMA's lead blew up to as many as 46 points when Grimes nailed a jumper a jumper off a feed inside from Dillard to make it 75-29 with 3:39 left to play in the game which would end at 78-34 when the final horn sounded.
"We came out very strong and bounced back well from our two losses at Army and Rutgers-Newark," explained Gartner, the team captain. "I was proud of the way we all played. We pushed it very fast to begin with, and I think that came off the momentum of the last two games."
The Mariners will look to add as many as two more victories to their best start in program history this weekend when they visit Landmark Conference opponents Goucher and Catholic. USMMA will be facing each opponent for the first time ever.
"We have to keep playing hard, strong and fast," added Gartner on what the team has to do to be successful this weekend. "We don't know much about the teams, but we will definitely compete."
The team begins its weekend at Goucher on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and travels to Catholic for a 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday.