On Saturday, Jan. 18, Elizabethtown College women’s and men’s basketball teams squared off against the Moravian Greyhounds in a classic double-header. The women’s team had a special day as the seniors were commemorated for their contribution over the past four years, while the men’s team hoped to regain some footing in the Landmark Conference and secure another victory.
Before the tip-off for the first game,, the senior players were presented with flowers and given their framed jerseys, surrounded by their family and friends to honor their career at Etown. The celebrations would continue for Etown throughout the game, but, Moravian got out to a hot start, starting with a five point lead in the first., The Blue Jays were able to take a two point lead before the end of the quarter.
The scoring got better for Etown as they jumped to a 10 point lead off a 12-4 run through the first half of the second quarter. After a Moravian timeout, the Greyhounds climbed back to reduce the deficit to three at the half. The Blue Jays came out hot as they shot out of a cannon to a 17 point lead in the third and didn’t look back, as they took the win by a score of 73-45.
Senior forward DaniRae Renno led Etown with 18 points and nine rebounds, while junior forward Allyia Kennedy dropped 13 points and six rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench. Graduate forward Jess King put together a double-double, scoring 11 points and grabbing 15 rebounds in the victory. Etown moves to 13-2 on the year and 7-1 in the Landmark Conference.
On the men’s side, it was a tight matchup against a Moravian squad that has made an impact in the Landmark Conference so far, sitting in third in the Conference, only two games out from first place. The game was extremely close through the beginning of the first half, but Moravian jumped out to a 13 point lead with five minutes to go left in the first.
Etown wasn’t done yet, as they put together a 14-4 run led by senior guard Rance Russo, who scored six of the 14 points. In the first five minutes of the second half, Etown jumped out to an eight point lead, but the Greyhounds pulled it back and flipped the lead with around eight minutes left to go.
Etown battled back to tie the game with three minutes left, however, they couldn’t hold on as Moravian defeated the Blue Jays 84-81. Junior guard Austin FInarelli led the Blue Jays with 21 points, followed by Russo with 17 points and junior guard Reese Ziegler with 14 points. Junior guard Chad Kratzer led Moravian with 21 points and five rebounds, leading the Greyhounds to the win. Moravian had all five starters reach double digits in points. Etown moves to 6-9 on the year and 3-5 in the Landmark Conference.
