Box Score CALDWELL, N.J. – The Philadelphia University women's basketball team led from wire-to-wire to earn a 72-63 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) victory over host Caldwell Monday afternoon in the Newman.
Philadelphia increases its winning streak to six, while improving to 12-5 overall and staying perfect in conference play at 8-0. Caldwell drops to 10-7 overall and 6-3 against the CACC.
Bria Young (Philadelphia, Pa./Prep Charter) was Philadelphia's leading scorer with 16 points to go along with eight rebounds, six assists, one blocked shot, and one steal. Tori Arnao (Newtown, Pa./Archbishop Wood) and Rachel Day (Horsham, Pa./Archbishop Wood) poured in 15 points each. Arnao also grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds to record her conference-leading 11th double-double of the year.
In a battle of the top two 3-point shooting teams in the CACC, both teams connected on six 3-point baskets. The difference was the Rams—the top team from behind the arc—shot only nine 3-pointers, while Caldwell—second in the CACC—fired up 27 3-point attempts.
Behind five early points from Young, Philadelphia was able to get out to a 7-0 cushion just 2:04 into the contest. The Cougars, with the help of three straight Ram turnovers, needed just 1:42 to tie the score at seven on a Antoinette Pilla triple at the 6:14 mark.
Arnao was able to right the ship as she put back a Jessica Kaminski (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Wood) miss at 5:44 and hit two free throws 1:15 later to put the Rams back up four (11-7).
A Young layup, after a Kaminski steal and transition pass, allowed Philadelphia to reestablish a five-point lead (22-17) at the start of the second quarter. With their lead trimmed to two, Philadelphia would go on a 17-4 charge to move ahead 41-26 on a Day three with 1:26 left in the half. Over the four-minute span, Philadelphia—led by five points from Kelsey Jones (Lafayette Hill, Pa./Mount St. Joseph Academy)—shot 7-of-7 from the floor, while Caldwell was 2-of-6 shooting.
During the second quarter, the Rams connected on 56.3 percent (9-of-16) of their shots and held the Cougars to 29.4 percent (5-of-17) shooting.
After maintaining a double-digit lead for a majority of the third, Caldwell ended the quarter with eight straight points, four by Caroline Dunn, to trim the Philadelphia lead down to 52-47 going into the fourth.
Karlie O'Driscoll—Caldwell's leading scorer with 16 points—made a layup 11 seconds into the final quarter to bring the Cougars within 52-49. Philadelphia's response was five straight points, capped off by a Young jumper at the 7:21 mark, to extend the gap to 57-49.
Pilla finished with 13 points and Kristen Drogsler added 10 points.
Philadelphia now has a week off before heading to Chestnut Hill for a CACC contest on Monday, Jan. 18 at 6 p.m.
