WHITTINGTON HITS SEVEN 3-POINTERS AS BULLDOGS DOWN COLGATE, 77-70, FOR FIRST HOME WIN OF 2010-11

Dec.11, 2010

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Sophomore Katie Whittington (Twinsburg, Ohio) poured in a career-high 26 points, including seven 3-pointers, to lead the Bryant University women's basketball team past Colgate, 77-70, Saturday afternoon for team's first home win of the season.

Whittington went 8-for-15 from the floor and 7-for-13 from long distance including four treys in the second half for a career-high 26 points. The most important three of the night for Whittington was her last, when the sophomore drilled her seventh 3-pointer with 2:00 remaining to give the Bulldogs a five point lead and the eventual victory.

Whittington added three assists and two steals while teammates Meredith Soper (Winthrop, Mass.) and Siamone Bennett (Newburgh, N.Y.) also reached double-digit scoring with 15 and 11 points, respectively. Junior Brittany Stahura (Amsterdam, N.Y.) pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.

As a team, the Bulldogs (2-7) shot 39 percent from field and won the battle for rebounds by a margin of 39-35. Colgate (5-6) was led by Jhazmine Lynch's 22 points as the Raiders shot 46 percent from the floor.   

The first half of the game belonged to the Bulldogs, who opened up the game with a strong offensive output thanks to a trio of 3-pointers by Whittington in the first eight minutes of the contest. While Whittington controlled the perimeter, Soper opened up the court as she drove through the Colgate defense for tough layups and also stepped back for jumpers, including a long distance trey.

The Raiders made a run midway through the first half when Tayler Wejnert hit a shot from beyond the arc and Kendra Brim followed with a layup through traffic, cutting the Bryant lead to 20-17. That would be as close as the Raiders would come in the first half, however, as the Bulldogs pulled away, this time by way of the conventional three-point play. Courtney Schissler and Whittington were both able to slice through the defense for one-handed layups while drawing fouls and hitting the free shots to help put the Bulldogs on top, 38-27, at halftime.

At intermission, Whittington led all scorers with 12 points while Soper chipped in with 11 points and five rebounds. Wejnert paced the Raiders with nine tallies in the opening stanza.  

At the start of the second half, the Bulldogs kept the ball in the hot hand of Whittington as she opened the stanza with two more 3-pointers, but Sami Kozlowski matched her efforts with a trifecta of her own to keep the Raiders in the game. Whittington continued the back-and-forth battle, however, when she came back a few minutes later for her fifth trey of the contest.

With the momentum in the hands of the Bulldogs, Danielle Douglas (Silver Spring, Md.) kept up the offensive pressure with a takeaway and subsequent layup while drawing the foul for the impressive 3-point play. Following a quick jumper by Brim, Bryant came right back as Schissler drove to the basket on a feed from Whittington.

With just over ten minutes remaining, Whittington brought the ball up the floor and drilled yet another shot from behind the arc for her sixth three of the contest, giving the Bulldogs a commanding 60-43 lead.

Nevertheless, the Raiders refused to go down easily as the visitors went on a 23-8 run over the next nine minutes of play to pull to within a basket, 68-66. The Bulldogs answered with a much-needed post move from Bennett for the lay-in but the Raiders struck back with pair of free throws by Lynch.  

On top by two points with 2:00 remaining in regulation, Whittington silenced the Raiders with her seventh trifecta of the contest as the Bulldogs were then able to maintain their lead in the final minutes for the 77-70 victory.  

The Black and Gold look to return to action to the Chace Athletic Center on Dec. 19, when they host Holy Cross at 4 p.m.