Last Saturday afternoon, Elizabethtown College’s men’s (8-13, 5-9 conference) and women’s (15-6, 11-3 conference) basketball teams produced wins against Moravian University (M: 7-14, 3-11 conference, W: 7-14, 6-8 conference), 68-65 and 84-46 respectively.
The men’s team put on a dominating first half, outscoring Moravian 43-26. Fourth-year Dylan Rowe opened the scoring with two buckets, pushing Etown ahead and leaving Moravian chasing the rest of the game. The Jays solidified their lead near the end of the first half, with second-year Reese Ziegler scoring two consecutive threes, putting Etown up by eleven. The men held Moravian to only five points in the last four minutes of the half, finishing with a sizeable lead in the first half.
Moravian gained some momentum in the second, coming within three points of Etown near the middle of the half. However, Etown was able to convert their free throws and held on to the lead. The Greyhounds weren’t able to come through and missed a vital shot at the buzzer. Second-year Austin Finarelli led the scoring, with 17 points and five rebounds. He was closely followed by Rowe, who had 11 points and eight rebounds. Third-year Rance Russo and second-year EJ Finney had eight points apiece, contributing to the Jays’ 68 total.
The women’s side put on an impressive performance, breaking a two-game losing streak. Fourth-year Cyleigh Wilson hit two of her four threes within the first three minutes, leading to an early timeout by Moravian. The rest of the starters continued the scoring trend, finishing the quarter with four straight points from second-year Allyia Kennedy. The second quarter was mainly back and forth, crowned by Kennedy’s cross-court pass to second-year Ella Gordon who finished it with a layup with only three seconds left on the shot-clock.
The Jays continued to run up the lead in the second half, hitting over 50 percent of their shots and going ten-for-ten on the foul line. Third-year Summer McNulty and fourth-year Taylor Huyck went on a 7-0 run near the end of the third quarter, putting Etown’s lead at twenty points. Wilson’s now made 64 threes this season, only one short of the program’s single-season record. Moravian weren’t helping themselves either, making only three of ten shot attempts.
McNulty led the scoring overall, with 23 points, followed by Wilson with 16. Third-year DaniRae Renno scored 10 and Kennedy managed seven. McNulty, Wilson and Renno combined went 20-26 on shots, with McNulty and Wilson going 6-7 for three-pointers. As a team, the Jays went 31 for 62 shots (50%), 7 for 13 on three-pointers (53%) and 15 for 17 free throws (82%).
