SELINSGROVE, Pa. — Behind a 24-point performance by Keegan Douglas and a massive Anna Scoblick double-double, the Catholic University women's basketball team downed Susquehanna in a tight game on Wednesday night.
The Cardinals and River Hawks battled throughout but No. 8 Catholic dominated the final two minutes of the game to come away with a huge road victory.
Susquehanna came out of the gates firing, shooting 50 percent from the field and holding the Cardinals to just 23.5 percent to take an 18-13 point lead into the first-quarter break. Catholic then responded by winning the second quarter 17-13 to cut the deficit to just one at halftime.
Matt Donohue made sure his team came out of the locker room on the front foot, opening the second half on a 7-0 run. Scoblick energized her team by getting a steal and then earning a trip to the free-throw line where she went 1-for-2. Then, on the next possession, she grabbed one of her nine offensive rebounds and converted a layup. Douglas and Kerry Flaherty each provided two points of their own to complete the run that took less than two-and-a-half minutes of game time.
Both teams exchanged blows for the remainder of the quarter but the early 7-0 run was the difference as the Cardinals outscored Susquehanna 20-14 to take a five-point advantage into the final 10 minutes.
Midway through the final stanza, Susquehanna's Julia Pinckert hit a massive three to cut Catholic's lead to one before the River Hawks parlayed a steal on the next defensive possession into a lead after a Carly George layup. Neither team scored again until Scoblick grabbed another offensive rebound following a Donohue timeout. She grabbed the board after Flaherty misfired from deep and was able to get it back on the glass to push Catholic back into the slim lead.
Then, Sarah White took over.
The senior forced a steal on the following possession and pushed the ball forward on the fast break. It looks like she had a clear path to the basket but instead decided to dribble wide before finding Flaherty in the corner who splashed a clutch three. White passed up a good shot to create an even better one.
The next time down the floor White grabbed another steal, her game-high sixth, allowing the Cardinals to draw a foul and begin to ice the game. Carly Mulvaney converted two pairs of free throws on the next two possessions to push Catholic to the win.
Scoblick scored 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds, notching her third double-double in her last four games. Douglas dropped her impressive 24 on 8-of-14 shooting in her return from a short two-game hiatus. The Cardinals also got a welcome boost as Alexa Kenah returned from injury, contributing two points and two rebounds in 10 minutes off the bench.
The victory marks Catholic's 18th in a row, extending the program's longest-ever win streak. The Cardinals set another program record earlier this week when they moved up one spot to No. 8 in the D3Hoop.com weekly poll to claim its highest-ever national ranking.
Catholic returns home for a battle with Moravian on Saturday before Elizabethtown travels south to the district. The Blue Jays will be looking for redemption from the last match-up in late November when the Cardinals downed Elizabethtown in overtime. Tip-off against the Greyhounds on Saturday is set for 4 p.m. prior to a 7 p.m. tip next Wednesday.
