FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dan Donohue, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information, 610-606-4666 x. 3725
FALCONS DROP CONFERENCE OPENER TO IMMACULATA
Allentown, PA (December 2, 2010) - CSAC conference play opened with a bang as the visiting Might Macs of Immaculata University powered past Cedar Crest by a score of 89-61.
Immaculata began the game as though they were shot out of a cannon. Their pressure defense and up-tempo offense put the Falcons immediately back on their heels, forcing several early turnovers and rushed shots upon which the Macs capitalized. Senior forward Chelsea McTigue scored all of Immaculata's first ten points in just the opening four minutes before cooling off, ceding the scoring title to IU junior Bridget Welz who poured in 12 in the first half and finished with 20. The Macs slowly pulled away, leading by nine at 16-7 less than six minutes in and stretching their lead to as many as 23 in the first half at 42-19 with 4:23 remaining. Cedar Crest still managed a run of their own however, a 13-4 spurt that included seven quick points by junior Lizzy Sunderhaus (Hamilton, OH/Stephen T. Badin) and a pair of buckets by freshman Amber Wehry (Klingerstown, PA/Tri-Valley) to close the gap to 46-32 at the halftime buzzer.
In the second half, Immaculata again slowly extended their lead by pressuring and hurrying Cedar Crest on almost every possession. They led by as many as 21 on two occasions midway through the second half before the Falcons were again able to cut it to 14 with 7:25 to go, largely on the strength of a dominating performance in the paint by Sunderhaus. The junior was a force to be reckoned with, leading all scorers with 23 points, including 16 in the second half and going 9 of 10 from the line, to go with 11 boards. But Cedar Crest was unable to close the gap any further in the remaining minutes as fresher legs from Immaculata's much deeper bench pushed the score to the 89-61 final. For the game, the Macs played 13 players to the Falcons' six and won the rebounding battle 44 to 36.
Wehry continued to impress with 13 points on 6 of 10 shooting, nine rebounds and three assists. Senior Leann Wallower (Havertown, PA/Haverford) had 11 on the night, and fellow senior Lauren Seale (Wilmington, DE/Wilmington Christian) was a welcome pair of extra hands to share ball-handling duties with sophomore point guard Megan DeMutis (Norristown, PA/Kennedy-Kenrick) under the withering pressure put on by the Macs. Seale had five points including three of four from the stripe and DeMutis had three points, three assists and three steals.
The Falcons drop to 3-3 on the season and open 0-1 in the CSAC, while Immaculata improves to 4-2 and 1-1 in the conference. Cedar Crest's final home game of the semester will be this Saturday at 1:00 p.m. against defending CSAC Champion Neumann University.
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