Photo By Michael Lipscomb
By Logan Moyer, Sports Editor
After all the chatter about her return to action, Julia Roth is happy to finally let her play do the talking.
After missing all but one game last season with a torn ACL, Roth scored 25 points to lead the women’s basketball team to a 83-60 season-opening win over Mary Washington on Saturday in the Susquehanna Tip-Off Tournament at O.W. Houts Gymnasium.
“It was just so exciting to be out there,” Roth said. “It was really just so nice to put the uniform on again.”
Any first-game jitters that Roth or any of the River Hawks (1-0) had were immediately erased when SU started the game out on a 13-0 run.
“We said we wanted to pounce on them right away,” SU coach Gabby Holko said. “That’s been our mentality.”
Julia Pinckert carried the load of Susquehanna’s scoring early, dropping 8 points in the first quarter en route to a career-high of 18 points for the game as a whole. She was vital for the River Hawks as they built their early advantage.
“It feels good to come out of the gates and score, especially early on,” said Pinckert, a senior. “We have great teams in this tournament, so we knew it was going to be a really high energy and effort that we needed to bring, and I think we did exactly that.”
The River Hawks limited the Eagles (0-1) to 35% shooting from the field, forcing 21 turnovers and recording 10 steals. Roth finished with five steals while Pinckert added three.
The need for a better defensive effort was something that Holko highlighted in the preseason.
“I think our defense is going to be what sets us up for success,” Holko said. “With now two scrimmages and our first game, we’re turning teams over in the twenties. That’s something we’ve never done before in my tenure here.”
Along with Roth and Pinckert, Sydney Weyant (13) and Annie Greek (10) also finished with a double-digit scoring tally for SU. The River Hawks shot 46% from the floor and knocked down eight 3-pointers.
After obtaining the early lead, Susquehanna never looked back. It held a double-digit lead for virtually the entire game, leading by as much as 33 in the fourth quarter. Roth contributed heavily in the second and third quarters, making 11 of 18 shots in the game overall.
“She’s just a tough kid,” Holko said of Roth. “I think she just came out and showed who she is. It’s nice to have her back on the floor.”
Holko did highlight the need to maintain focus throughout the entire game and shoot better from the free-throw line; SU allowed Mary Washington to go on an 11-point scoring run during the fourth quarter and shot 9-18 from the charity stripe.
“I think we missed some easy shots that normally fall for us,” she said. “We did not shoot well from the free-throw line. Those are some areas that we need to be able to clean up, but I’m extremely proud of how our team came out this first game and attacked it.”
SU will play the winner of DeSales and No. 24 Gettysburg in the tournament’s championship game at 3 p.m. Sunday. DeSales is a historically very strong program while Gettysburg reached the national quarterfinals last season.
“These are all teams that you want to either get a win against or a loss that doesn’t hurt,” Holko said. “Both teams are coached phenomenally.”