Photo Courtesy of Susquehanna Athletics
By Hayden Lange
Susquehanna Women’s Basketball started their regular season strong with a 59-34 win at home over St. John Fisher to advance to the PNC Tipoff Tournament Championship game.
“It was a great team win, I think we had a lot of assists, everyone shot really well. We worked well inside out,” said Junior Forward Greta Servitto.
Susquehanna started slow in the opening quarter as defense was strong on both ends. The first quarter ended with both teams totaling only 17 points, with the Cardinals leading 9-6.
However in the second quarter, The River Hawks showed more of a rhythm as they were able to start pulling away from the game early. Susquehanna opened the quarter by immediately taking the lead for the first time in the game after two consecutive field goals.
The Cardinals would eventually take back their lead; however Susquehanna would go on to dominate the rest of the quarter, finishing on an 11-4 run to take a 21-16 lead going into the half.
The second half saw the River Hawks building momentum and taking over the game even more. Susquehanna’s pesky defense forced turnover after turnover from St. John Fisher, which helped generate more possessions for the River Hawks.
Those extra possessions helped Susquehanna score their most points in a quarter, totaling 25 with a smooth-running offense and consistent rebounding.
“We were working well off of each other and just having really good energy, and we had really good defense which is what our coaches were saying,” said Senior Guard Annie Greek.
With momentum well on Susquehanna’s side, the fourth quarter would see the River Hawks continue to control the game, as their bench helped lead the team to win the season opener.
Greek led Susquehanna in scoring with 16 points on the night while also recording four rebounds and two steals. Senior Guard Sydney Weyant put up 10 points, six rebounds and three blocks on the night.
Servitto finished the night with eight points, five rebounds and five assists while also totaling three blocks.
“We had a gameplan of how we were going to attack the second half and it just worked in our favor really well,” said Greek
Susquehanna shot 41.8 % from the floor, where St. John Fisher shot 22.0 %, a credit to the high-pressured defense Susquehanna deployed in all four quarters.
The River Hawks will be back in action Sunday, Nov 8 at 3 p.m. for the championship game of the PNC Tipoff Tournament where they will take on No.12 ranked Christopher Newport.