HAMBURG, N.Y. – The Hilbert College women's basketball team jumped into a tie for 1st place in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference after today's 75-68 league victory over the previously unbeaten Mt. Aloysius College Mounties.
The Hawks improved to 7-1 in the league and 9-5 overall with the home victory and became the first team to defeat the Mounties (9-4, 7-1 AMCC) since December 18th.
Emily Gawlak led four players who notched double figure points. The sophomore guard scored 19 points, hitting 4-of-9 from deep. She also gathered six rebounds and three assists and one very important steal at the end of the game.
Taylor Corts did a great job in the paint and also struck from deep (3-of-5) to lift the Hawks with 16 points and one block.
Katelyn Proy came on strong in the second half and finished with 14 points and four assists while
Maegann Mein added 10 points with a productive 3-of-4 from the floor.
Kelsi Ebert looked to distribute the ball this afternoon and found nine assists and six points in the 40-minute game.
Hilbert closed the game with a 60.7% field goal effort in the second half and made 12-18 from the foul line.
Both teams matched each other scoring efforts in the first quarter and headed into the second session tied 14-14.
The Mounties never trailed in the second quarter but stretched their advantage to seven points twice. Mein closed the first half scoring with a jumper inching Hilbert closer but still trailed, 34-29.
Every time Hilbert was within striking distance of knotting the score in the third quarter, the Mounties drained a shot from beyond the arc. At 5:21, Mt. Aloysius took their largest lead (46-38) before Hilbert crept back. Corts connected for a 3-pointer to start a run and Proy scored a lefty-handed lay-up off an Ebert feed which then sent the teams to their benches after three quarters in a 51-51 score.
The fourth quarter was exciting.
There were three tie-score situations until Mt. Aloysius hit a deep shot and made a pair of freebies to take a 5-point lead with six minutes remaining. Corts struck another 3-point shot but Mt. Aloysius answered back with their own bomb.
Ebert made both free throws and Gawlak followed with a deep shot that forced a 65-65 score at 3:55.
The Mounties connected with a short jumper which turned out to be their final lead in the game.
Corts maintained her shooter's touch from the 3-point line, lifting Hilbert 68-67, and after the visitors made only one of two free throws, Hilbert went on a 7-0 run to close the game. Proy scored in the paint and Corts tickled the twine for a four-point lead.
Mt. Aloysius called a time out to advance the ball to their front court. Gawlak anticipated the east-west pass once the play was drawn up and stepped in the passing lane, stole the ball and took a trip to the free throw line building a 74-68 score with 0:21 left.
The 2017-18 women's basketball team is two wins away from establishing a new AMCC-era league win record and three victories away from an overall program win record.
Hilbert, who just played four games in eight days last week, returns to AMCC action with three games this week. Monday January 15 they will travel to D'Youville College, then host Pitt-Bradford Wednesday, January 17. They will finish the week with a road game at Penn State Altoona January 20.
Be sure to stay up-to-date on all your Hilbert Hawks scores and awards by following @HilbertAthletic on Twitter and by liking the "Hilbert College Athletics" Facebook page. Additionally, fans of the Hawks who have an Apple device can receive push notification from the newly created Hilbert College Hawks iOS SIDEARM mobile App which can be found in the Apple Store and ITunes.
