WASHINGTON, D.C. - Catholic dominated the third quarter to blow open Wednesday night's game and improve the Cardinals to 12-0 on the season and 5-0 in Landmark Conference play. The Cardinals outscored Lycoming 29-10 in the second half en route to a 78-50 victory. Catholic entered the night ranked 15th in the D3hoops poll and 13th in the WBCA poll. 

Leading 49-40 after the opening 20 minutes, the Cardinals dominated the third quarter, outscoring Lycoming 21-2 to break things open. The teams traded buckets over the first 1:16 of the third quarter before Catholic busted out a 19-0 run over 7:33 of game action to extend the lead to 70-42. A Keegan Douglas three-pointer started the run for Catholic with 8:36 to play in the third period before five straight points from Carly Mulvaney extended the lead to 59-42. Amelia Kennedy made it 70-42 with a layup before Lycoming finally broke the drought with a free throw at the 1:03 mark. 

In a frenetically paced first half, Catholic poured in 49 points in the first 20 minutes to take a nine-point lead into the halftime break. The Cardinals started the 2024 portion of the schedule off on the right note, taking a quick 7-0 lead in the first 2:51 as Mulvaney sandwiched a pair of baskets around a Sarah White three. Lycoming scored the next eight, but Douglas connected from three to take back the lead for Catholic with 4:41 left in the first. Lycoming led 17-16 after a Mya Wetzel three with 2:46 to go in the initial period, but Kennedy immediately answered with a three of her own and Catholic ultimately took a 25-19 lead after 10 minutes. 

Alexa Kenah drilled a three 1:07 into the second period to give Catholic a 30-20 lead before Lycoming ripped off a 7-0 run to trim the deficit to three with 7:09 to play in the half as Wetzel connected from three again. This time it was Molly Aromando who got in on the action from distance responding from three to make it 33-27. Once again, Lycoming kept it tight, pulling within two at 35-33 with 5:30 to go, six straight for Catholic made it 41-33. Kenah hit her second triple of the period to make it 44-35 with 2:16 left. Wetzel hit another first-half three to pull the Warriors within six with 35 seconds left in the half, but Kerry Flaherty drained a three with seven seconds left and Matt Donohue's squad took a 49-40 lead into the break. 

BY THE NUMBERS

• With 11 points on Wednesday night, Mulvaney went over 500 points for her Catholic career. Mulvaney has continued to increase her scoring output each season at Catholic. She averaged 6.3 points per game as a freshman, 8.2 as a sophomore, and is currently averaging 10.4 points per game as a junior. 
• Catholic's 12-0 start is now two wins shy of matching the 14-0 start to the season by the 2012-13 team for the best start in over a decade. 
• Five different players scored at least 10 points led by Douglas with 12. Anna Scoblick and Mulvaney each scored 11 while White and Kennedy added 10 each. Kennedy's 10 points is a new career-high for the sophomore from Schwkensville, Pa. 
• It was a tale of two halves pace-wise. Catholic held Lycoming to just 10 second-half points despite the Warriors dropping in 40 points in the opening 20 minutes. The 10 points allowed in the second half are the least amount of points Catholic allowed in a half since allowing nine points in the first half versus Susquehanna on January 29, 2022. 
• Catholic assisted on 22 of 32 makes with White dishing out six assists and Scoblick handing out five. 

Catholic hits the road on Saturday to take on Drew in Madison, N.J.