HAMBURG, N.Y. – After building a 33-29 half time lead, the Hilbert College women's basketball team (6-6, 3-3 AMCC) came out flat to start the third quarter which ultimately cost them the game against La Roche College this afternoon.  The Redhawks improved to 10-2 (5-0 AMCC) with a 58-46 victory in Hamburg.
 
Katelyn Proy picked up her seventh career double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds but it was Shannon Rogers and Kelsi Ebert who led with 13 points each.  Ebert was spot-on from the foul line going 5-for-5 (two steals) and Rogers found her open teammates, leading with a team-high 4 assists, three blocks and eight rebounds.

La Roche's Sabrina McLin led all scorers with 23 points sinking 5-of-10 beyond the arc.

La Roche  didn't expect the Hawks to be so competitive as the game progressed and quickly found themselves in a dog fight in the second quarter.  The Redhawks took a 13-6 lead  with 2:05 left in the first period and needed a 3-point shot at the buzzer to ride a 16-12 advantage into the 75-second break between quarters.

Kelsi Ebert forced a 16-16 tie at the foul line and Proy knotted the game again at 18-18 before Emily Speidel drove to the basket hard.  Her trip to the foul line gave the Hawks the led and jump-started a 12-5 run to put Hilbert ahead 30-23 at 2:05.  La Roche went on their own 7-3 run to close the half, but they still trailed Hilbert 33-29 at intermission.

The royal and white connected on 41.7% of their field goals while holding the visitors to 36.4% shooting.  Neither team threw the ball around as they combined for a total of nine 1st half turnovers.  Hilbert bested the Redhawks with only four errant passes.  La Roche sank four 3-pointers and Hilbert went 2-for-3 from beyond the arc.

Rogers extended Hilbert's lead to start the third period before La Roche went on a 19-0 run.  Ebert's back-to-back buckets gave Hilbert their final points in the quarter.  Hilbert was credited with 11 turnovers in the third session alone.

Proy's lay-up at 4:00 in the fourth session cut the score to eight points (50-42) but that was as close as Hilbert got the rest of the way. 

Hilbert's swarming defense forced La Roche into 12 turnovers and held them to 58 points, 20-points under their scoring average.  The Redhawks finished the game with 37.7 field goal percentage and 50% at the foul line. Several of Hilbert's 22 turnovers were unforced and ultimately cost them additional offensive possessions and potential points in the second half.

Three players have found their way into the women's basketball Top 10 career leaders this year, already.  Junior Emily Speidel's 77-made 3-point field goals (60 games) position her at #2.  She trails #1Kaitlyn Miller '08 who leads with 122.  Sophomore Shannon Rogers moved to #10 with 194 made field goals in 35 games, #8 in Defensive Rebounds (284) and #9 in Total Rebounds (420).  Freshman Katelyn Proy is already at #10 in Blocked shots (43) after 12 games.

The Hawks have to get their legs back for tomorrow's 3pm AMCC game against Penn State Altoona (2-9, 2-4 AMCC) who were 83-59 losers at Bradford today.