HOBOKEN, N.J. (March 5, 2008) – Three different players on the Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team scored in double figures on Wednesday night to lead the third-seeded Ducks to a 73-48 victory against the sixth-seeded Lightning of Lehman College in the quarterfinals of the 2008 ECAC Division III Metro Championship. With the win, Stevens improved to 22-6 on the year. It also set a school mark for wins in a single-season for the third straight year. As for Lehman, it dropped to 17-12 overall.
On the evening, the Ducks shot 40.6 percent (28-for-69) from the field, 35.0 percent (7-for-20) from beyond the arc and 83.3 percent (10-for-12) from the free-throw line. Junior guard Dani Dudek notched her 14th double-double of the season with a game-high 19 points and 10 assists. She also brought down seven rebounds and swiped three steals.
Senior forward Dora Enright totaled 18 points and nine rebounds. She was 8-of-14 from the field. Sophomore forward Brittany Fuller registered 11 points, seven boards and two steals. She was 4-of-7 from the floor and 3-of-6 from downtown. Sophomore guard Sarah Gehring notched seven points and five rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench.
The Lightning shot just 25.4 percent (18-of-71) from the field and 45.5 percent (5-of-11) from the charity stripe. Junior forward Sally Nnamani (Warwick, N.Y.) recorded a team-high 12 points. She also amassed six boards, four assists and three blocks. Freshman forward Paulie Tuazon (New York, N.Y.) and freshman guard Lataye Hillman (Quito, Ecuador) each had 11 points in the loss.
Trailing 6-2 with just over 16 minutes to go in the first half, Stevens put together a 22-4 run over a six-minute stretch, which gave the hosts a 24-10 lead with 11:01 remaining. Fuller and senior guard Jean Matusiak got things going with back-to-back three-balls. Dudek capped off the burst with a long-distance make of her own.
Following a trifecta by Hillman to cut the deficit to 11 points, the Ducks rattled off another large streak (11-3) in a span of 3:07 to go up 35-16 with 6:03 left. Dudek picked up four points in the spurt. Seconds later, Lehman went on a short 6-0 run to come within 35-22. Tuazon accounted for the points as she knocked down two threes at the 5:41 and 6:19 marks, respectively.
Stevens closed out the half on an 8-0 burst to grab hold of a 43-22 lead at intermission. Enright tallied the final four points of the spurt off of a pair of lay-ups. She had a team-leading 12 points in the first half on 5-for-6 shooting.
The second half saw a lot of points traded between the two teams. With 12:19 to go in regulation, the Lightning tried to fuel a comeback by scoring five of the next six points to cut the already large deficit to 20 (58-38). But, the Ducks responded with an 8-2 run over a period of 3:18 to take their largest advantage of the game at 66-40 with five-plus minutes left. The streak also secured the win for Stevens. Dudek started it with a jumper. Gehring finished it with a lay-up.
The Ducks return to action this Saturday when they host the College of Staten Island in the semifinals of the ECAC Metro Championship. The No. 7 seed Dolphins beat the No. 2 seed Scarlet Raiders of Rutgers-Newark by a 57-47 score on Wednesday in Newark, N.J. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. and all of the action can be followed via Live Stats at /livestats/wbball/xlive.htm
