BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Hilbert College women's basketball team, who struggled to find the bottom of the net against the Spartan's zone defense, suffered a 61-53 defeat at D'Youville College tonight.
Hilbert was credited with 15 steals, their highest of the season, and 18 turnovers, their fifth lowest, but the Hawks were unable to connect from behind the arc as they made only one of their 18 3-point attempts.
Kelsi Ebert led three Hilbert players to double digits knocking in 18 points, scoring six of nine at the charity stripe. The junior point guard also added five assists and seven steals to her final season of competition.
Emily Gawlak chipped in 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds, four on the offensive end.
Ashley Repine went 5-for-9 from the floor and pulled down eight rebounds while adding three steals.
Tonight was only the third time this season that the Hawks were out-rebounded. D'Youville picked the glass for 37 boards while as Hilbert trailed by one.
Hilbert led 14-12 after the first 10 minutes of action. D'Youville knotted the game at 36 by intermission after they flipped the scoring in the second period.
Emily Speidel sank Hilbert's lone 3-pointer in the first 20 minutes as Hilbert went 10-34 from the floor (1-13) and earned eight steals by the break. Ebert and Gawlak led Hilbert with three offensive rebounds each keeping play alive for the visitors. D'Youville made 11 of their 30 shots, earned eight offensive rebounds and turned the ball over 11 times before the horn.
There were five lead changes in the opening minutes of the third quarter before D'Youville turned up the heat. The Spartans knocked in a pair of shots from down town and went 4-for-4 from the foul line to win the third session, 20-13 and build a 46-39 lead.
Hilbert fell behind by 12 points halfway through the fourth quarter but the Hawks didn't quit. Missed shots and untimely turnovers caused Hilbert to stop the clock putting D'Youville at the foul line late in the game. The hosts won the final quarter 15-14 and split the Buffalo Cup series with Hilbert.
As they wind down their AMCC schedule, Hilbert travels to their final road weekend game. The Hawks will play Pitt-Greensburg this Saturday, Feb 11 at 1pm. They then return home next week for a Wednesday game against Penn State Behrend and will celebrate their graduating players Feb 18 against Mount Aloysius.
