Box Score PHILADELPHIA – A dominating second-half performance by the Philadelphia University women's basketball team propelled the Rams to a 76-54 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) victory over visiting Felician Saturday afternoon in the Gallagher Center.
Philadelphia (11-5, 7-0 CACC) faced a 42-36 deficit with 7:04 remaining in the third quarter after Felician's Hannah Johnson capped a 6-0 run with a basket.
Then, Mary Newell (Lansdale, Pa./Villa Joseph Marie), the Rams' leading scorer with 16 points, connected on consecutive jumpers to spark a game-changing 14-1 run that put the home team ahead 50-43. During the 3:52 span, Philadelphia had four different players score, led by six Tori Arnao (Newtown, Pa./Archbishop Wood) points, and shot 6-of-11 from the field. Defensively, the Rams stymied the Golden Falcons, forcing the visitors to miss all five of their attempts and commit two turnovers.
Newell finished off an eight-point quarter with a layup on the right block with 57 seconds left to extend the advantage to 53-45.
After being held out of the scoring column for three quarters, Rachel Day (Horsham, Pa./Archbishop Wood) took over in the fourth, scoring 14 of the Rams' 21 points on 5-of-7 shooting, 4-of-6 from 3-point range. Day scored the first eight points of a 10-0 run to start the quarter and push the lead to 64-47. With the lead at 14, Day knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to widen the gap to 74-54 with 1:30 remaining.
In the second half, Philadelphia shot 48.5 percent and grabbed 25 rebounds, while Felician connected on just 36.0 percent and had only eight rebounds.
Philadelphia appeared to have control of the contest from the outset, getting out to a quick 6-0 lead. Felician (1-14, 1-7 CACC), behind six Eliana Scanlon points, scored 14 of the next 19 points to take 14-11 advantage with 4:12 left in the first. Bria Young (Philadelphia, Pa./Prep Charter) knocked down the Rams' first 3-pointer of the game to give Philadelphia a 17-16 lead at the end of the quarter.
Kelsey Jones (Lafayette Hill, Pa./Mount St. Joseph Academy) had the hot-hand for the Rams in the second quarter, scoring 10 of the team's 17 points. Felician went up 34-27 on a Treanda Foster put back with 3:45 left before the half. Jones scored the final seven points of the half, four free throws and a 3-pointer, to single-handedly send the game to the half tied at 34.
Arnao finished up with 12 points and 13 rebounds for her team-leading 10th double-double of the year, while Young had 14 points.
Shyla Osmond and Alex Salaycik paced the Golden Falcons with 12 points each.
Philadelphia finished up shooting 23-of-58 from the floor and 23-of-33 from the free throw line. Felician was 22-of-55 overall and just 3-of-4 from the stripe. The Rams owned a 44-28 rebounding advantage, 21-10 on the offensive end.
Philadelphia heads to Caldwell for CACC showdown on Monday, Jan. 11 at 5 p.m.
