BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Hilbert College women's basketball team jumped out to a 46-20 half time lead and rolled to a 66-45 Buffalo Cup victory against D'Youville College tonight.
With the road win, the Hawks earned their second Buffalo Cup victory of the season and lifted Hilbert into a 2-way tie with D'Youvlle as each school has posted eight points mid-way through the cross-town, friendly competition. Medaille trails with six points, but they will battle D'Youville on the hardwood for the first time this season on Jan. 17.
Hilbert, at 8-1 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference, earned the #1 spot in the league after completing the first half of the 18-game AMCC schedule. Mt. Aloysius, whom Hilbert just defeated over the weekend, is one-game behind the Hawks with a 7-1 record.
Most impressively, the 2017-18 team has tied the program's All-Time AMCC win record (8) and at 10-5 overall, are two wins away from establishing the program's All Time win record, all with ten games remaining on their schedule.
Hilbert was ready to play tonight. They shared the ball well and scored from all over the floor in the opening minutes of the game.
Katelyn Proy and
Ashley Repine each netted inside the paint as both teams traded buckets and leads early. But
Taylor Corts and then
Kelsi Ebert struck from downtown just before
Emily Gawlak went 2-for-2 at the foul line getting all five starters on the score board in the first five minutes of the game.
The Spartans sliced three points off Hilbert's 12-6 lead, but Gawlak responded with a pair of three-pointers by the end of the quarter giving Hilbert the edge 22-14.
Proy lifted Hilbert to their first double-digit lead (25-14) just 33-seconds into the second quarter. The Hawks went to their bench mid-way through the second session and the effort and production did not skip a beat. Seven extra passes led to 15 points for Hilbert who stretched their lead to 26 points by half time.
Proy converted back-to-back traditional three-point plays at the start of the third quarter and pushed the Hawks to a 32-point lead (52-20) with 8:02 to go.
D'Youville found their passion in the fourth quarter. They forced four consecutive Hilbert turnovers and went on a 13-0 run. Ebert finally put three points on the score board at the four-minute mark as the Spartans outscored Hilbert 17-6 to close the game.
Katelyn Proy led Hilbert with 16 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots.
Emily Gawlak added 14 points and three assists, matching efforts with Proy as the team's leaders in steals (2).
Kelsi Ebert made 50% of her field goals tonight (5-10) and led with four assists while
Taylor Corts added nine points and six rebounds.
Ashley Repine controlled the glass finishing with 11 rebounds, six points and two assists.
Morgan McNeill crashed the boards, keeping the Hawks offensive possession alive five different times, collecting six rebounds and seven points.
Hilbert won the battle on the glass, with a 49-41 advantage, but it was the offensive rebounds that set the Hawks ahead. Hilbert earned 24 offensive rebounds which they converted into 18 second chance points.
Hilbert returns to the Hafner this Wednesday and begins round two of the AMCC portion of the schedule. They welcome Bradford (7-7, 5-4) in an 8pm contest.
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.
