Pledger Tallies Seventh Double-Double of Season – 12 Points and 10 Rebounds

COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Ursinus' Jessica Porada had a game-high 31 points and pulled down a team-high nine rebounds to help Ursinus down visiting Washington College, 67-61, at Helfferich Hall in a Centennial Conference women's basketball game on Saturday afternoon.  The Bears are now 11-11 overall and 8-8 in the Centennial, while the Shorewomen drop to 7-15 and 6-10 respectively.

Washington came out strong and took a 9-2 lead with 16:35 left in the first half on a jumper by senior forward Erin Fitzgerald (Greensboro, N.C./Bishop McGuiness).  Ursinus would respond with a 14-0 run to take a 16-9 lead with 9:59 remaining in the half on a jumper by Elana Roadcloud.  The Bears took their first lead of the game on a Porada layup with 13:26 to give the hosts a 10-9 lead.  The Bears led by nine, their largest lead of the half, at 25-16 with 4:38 to go in the half on a Porada free throw, but the Shorewomen stormed back with 10 unanswered points to take a 26-25 lead with 2:19 remaining in the opening half on a three-pointer by junior guard Emily Hubley (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin).  But Ursinus scored six of the last eight points of the half to take a 31-28 lead into halftime.  Porada netted a bunny with four ticks left to close out the first half scoring.

Washington would take its first lead of the second half, 36-35, with 16:59 left in the game on a basket by sophomore forward Carley Kendall (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton Area) that capped an 8-4 opening half run by the Shorewomen.  However, Ursinus countered with an 11-2 run of its own to take a 46-38 lead with 14:05 left in the game on a Roadcloud lay-in with Porada putting the Bears up for good at 37-36 with 16:38 to go.  The Shorewomen would get the Bears' lead down to four points at 48-44 with 11:57 remaining on two free throws by senior guard Kelly Mitchell (Laurel, Md./Academy of the Holy Cross).  The Bears would score 13 of the next 20 points to push their lead to 10 points, the biggest of the game, at 61-51 with 3:15 to go on a Gianna Pownall free throw.  The Shorewomen would score the next six points to cut the lead to 61-57 with 1:09 left on a putback layup by Kendall, but could draw no closer and the Bears held on for the six point victory.

Joining Porada in double figures was Alyssa Polimeni with 11 points and Diamond Lewis with 10 points for the Bears.  Gianna Pownall had four steals to lead all players as the Bears had 10 in the game.  The Bears shot 46% from the floor (24-for-52) and 54% from the foul line (19-for-35).  Ursinus missed all six of its three-point tries in the game.  Ursinus held a 44-12 edge in points in the paint and 20-10 in points off of turnovers.  The Bears lost it just 12 times, while the Shorewomen turned it over 19 times.

Senior forward Latisha Pledger (Chesapeake, Va./Indian River) tallied her seventh double-double of the year and her second straight double-double with 12 points and game-high 10 rebounds.  Tying Pledger for team-high in points was Hubley with 12 points and she also led all players with four assists.  Washington shot 42% from the floor (20-for-48), 33% from three-point range (6-for-18) and 83% from the free throw stripe (15-for-18).  The Shorewomen held a 35-34 edge on the boards and had a 21-12 advantage in bench points.

Both teams scored 10 second-chance points.

Washington plays its road finale on Wednesday when they travel to Swarthmore for a 6:00 p.m. Centennial Conference game.