HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 21, 2010) – Junior center Paige Armstrong netted a season-high 20 points on 9-for-14 shooting to power the Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team past Rochester Institute of Technology, 70-53, at Canavan Arena in Hoboken, N.J. The Ducks are now 15-9 on the season with an 11-4 league ledger, while the Tigers fall to 11-14 on the year with a 5-11 mark against conference opponents.
Stevens opened the game in impressive fashion, rattling off 12 unanswered points over the first five minutes of play. Five different Ducks scored during Stevens' stretch run – which included a pair of Kathleen Schuckers layups. RIT slowly battled back however, cutting it to six on a pair of Brianna O'Dell (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) free-throws, but 10 straight Stevens' points, capped off by a Sarah Gehring triple upped the margin to 16 with 7:05 to go in the first half.
The Tigers trimmed the margin 13 on a Leslie Havens (Wayland, N.Y.) three at 3:39, but an Armstrong basket on the ensuing Stevens possession made it 38-23. RIT responded with a quick 5-0 spurt to cut the deficit to 10, but a Victoria O'Connor layup with 47 seconds left in the half increased the lead to 12.
Hoping to cut into the margin, the Tigers mounted a 5-0 run to start the second half, making it a five-point affair on another O'Dell trey at 16:28. Stevens responded with a 15-5 run of its own over the next five and a half minutes of action, building a 15-point cushion before a Danielle Furman (Coudersport, Pa.) three-ball brought RIT within 12 with just under eight minutes to go.
Undaunted, the Ducks reeled off five-straight points on an Armstrong layup and a Dawn Garcia three to once again go up 17. RIT came as close as 13 on a Sharon Dennis (Liverpool, N.Y.) jumper at the 4:56 mark, but Stevens proved to be too strong down the stretch, getting buckets from O'Connor, Armstrong, and senior co-captain Brittany Fuller to win going away.
Gehring finished with 16 points and six rebounds in the win, while O'Connor added eight points and seven boards. Garcia, Schuckers, and Fuller tallied six points apiece, with Schuckers also dishing out a season-best nine assists.
O'Dell led the way for the Tigers with 13 points, while Havens and Furman added 10 and nine points, respectively.
Today's game with against RIT served as the culmination of Stevens' participation in National Girls and Women In Sports Day's (NGWSD) “Stay Strong, Play On” event. The Ducks opened their doors to females and males from grades K-12, for a day of fun with Stevens' student-athletes that included sport clinics, a meet and greet with the women's basketball team, and tickets to this afternoon's contest.
In addition to being the team's National Girls and Women in Sports Day event and Stevens women's basketball's Alumnae Day, today's game marked Stevens' participation in the WBCA Pink Zone™ initiative. The WBCA Pink Zone initiative is a global, unified effort for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. Last year's campaign raised over $1.3 million, reached over 912,000 fans, unified more than 1,600 participating teams and organizations, and saw 56+ schools break attendance records at their event. The WBCA's charity of choice is the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund®, in partnership with The V Foundation.
Stevens closes out its regular season on Tuesday, February 23 against Elmira College.
