Pledger Tallies First Career Double-Double

Hoboken, NJ – Freshman forward Latisha Pledger (Chesapeake, VA/Indian River) netted her first career double-double with 11 points and a game-high 13 rebounds as Washington College downed Alvernia, 73-57, at Canavan Arena on Saturday afternoon in the first round of the Stevens Tip-Off Tournament.  The Shorewomen, who will play host Stevens in the championship game tomorrow at 4:00 p.m., improve to 1-1, while the Crusaders drop to 1-1.

Alvernia jumped out to a 9-4 lead on a three-pointer by CeCe Buzzard with 15:32 remaining in the first half.  Washington countered with a 7-2 run of its own to tie up the contest at 11-11 with 12:07 left in the opening half on a jumper by freshman guard/forward Erin Fitzgerald (Greensboro, NC/Bishop McGuiness).  The Shorewomen took their first lead of the season at 15-13 with 8:37 on a layup by by freshman guard Kelly Mitchell (Laurel, MD/Academy of the Holy Cross).  The lay-in ignited a 10-3 run for WC that was capped by a layup by sophomore center Erin Kile (Benton, PA/Benton) with 6:59 to go in the opening 20 minutes and led to a timeout by the Crusaders with the Shorewomen leading 23-16.

With the Shorewomen leading 26-20, they scored seven unanswered points to grab a 33-20 lead with 3:29 left on two free throws by junior guard Meghan Tait (Oxford, PA/Oxford Area).  Washington grabbed its biggest lead of the half at 36-22 on a Tait triple 2:31 remaining in the first.  The Shorewomen would lead by 14 on three different occasions and took a 40-26 lead at halftime as Pledger hit a layup to beat the buzzer for the final points of the half.

In the opening 20 minutes, the Washington defense held Alvernia to 29% shooting and just 1-for-8 from three-point land, while the Shorewomen shot 45% from the floor and 4-for-9 from behind the arc. 

In the second half, Fitzgerald put Washington up 19 on a free throw with 16:02 left in the game to make it 47-28 Shorewomen.  WC took its first 20-point cushion at 50-30 with 13:48 left in the game on a Pledger lay-in. 

The Shorewomen led 52-32 with 13:06 remaining in the game when the Crusaders went on a 12-3 run to trim the lead to 55-44 on a lay-in by Allie Toczylowski with 10:03 to go in the contest.  Washington pushed the lead back to 14 points at 58-44 on two free throws by Tait with 6:37 to go.  After Alvernia cut the deficit back to 58-46 with 5:58 left on a Young free throw, junior guard/forward Sally O'Donnell (Cape May Court House, NJ/Wildwood Catholic) connected on a three-point bucket to make it 61-46 with 4:47 left.  It was WC's first field goal since the 12:03 mark of the second half.  After a three by Alvernia's Young, O'Donnell hit her second three in as many tries to put WC up 64-49 with 4:27 left.  The Crusaders got it to 11 points at 67-56 with 2:12 to go on a layup by Lil Snyder, but could draw no closer as WC scored six of the final eight points to close out the win.

O'Donnell scored 17 points to lead all players in the win, while Fitzgerald and Tait added 11 and 10 points respectively.  Tait missed a double-double by one rebound in the contest, but she dish out a game-high four assists and totaled a team-high three steals.  The Shorewomen shot 40% from the floor, 44% from three-point range and 66% from the charity stripe.  WC held a dominating 56-29 on the boards.

For the Crusaders, Young led the squad with 15 points, while Angela Altemose added 11 points and had game-bests of four steals and two blocks.  Alvernia shot 34% from the floor, 21% from behind the arc and 57% from the free throw line.

Washington and Alvernia have now split the all-time series at 1-1 as the Crusaders won during the 2008-09 season, 74-62.  Alvernia will take on FDU-Florham in the consolation game at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.