Photo Courtesy of Susquehanna Athletics
By Logan Moyer, Sports Editor
It wasn’t a day where the women’s basketball team started hot – but it was certainly one where they finished hot.
The River Hawks overcame a slow start to upset nationally-ranked Gettysburg 74-56 in the championship game of the Susquehanna Tip-Off Tournament on Sunday at O.W. Houts Gymnasium.
It is Susquehanna’s first win over a team ranked in the D3hoops.com poll since 2021. It is also the River Hawks’ first against a team ranked in the coaches’ poll since at least 2010.
“[The win] means everything,” said Annie Greek, who led SU with a career-high 19 points. “There was a lot of adversity in that game. We had a lot of people against us, and being able to pull out that win was just awesome.”
Susquehanna (2-0) started off the game on a dry spell, as the team made only two of its first 15 shots. “We got really great looks, they just weren’t falling for us,” SU coach Gabby Holko said. “I think inside, we were trying to rush it on layups. We were just not going up strong, not going up composed.”
The Bullets (1-1), a national quarterfinalist last season, also got off to a slower start. It wasn’t until midway through the second quarter that the fireworks started.
Annie Greek, who had missed all of her first four shots, drilled a 3-pointer. What ensued was a 16-0 River Hawk run that extended into the opening minute of the second half. It was a run that allowed SU to garner a near double-digit lead by halftime.
“I think it’s just like an energy chain,” Greek said of the run. “Once you make that first one, the hoop gets bigger and bigger with every make.”
For Greek, the hoop must have looked like a hula hoop by the end of the game. The junior guard finished with a career-high 19 points, knocking down five 3-pointers which also tied for her career-high.
SU scored 21, 14 and 29 points in the final three quarters after barely cracking double-digits in the first frame.
“Once we hit that second quarter, we really communicated, accepted the contact and were able to finish inside,” Holko said. “We didn’t have to be 100 miles per hour, we could go 50 miles per hour and get the same result.”
Susquehanna’s lead grew as large as 20 in the fourth quarter. The River Hawks simply refused to let the Bullets back into the game.
“A big thing for us was to be able to just keep our composure,” Holko said. “I think that’s probably what I am most proud of.”
Sydney Weyant and Julia Roth both finished in double figures for the River Hawks, with Weyant scoring 17 points and Roth dropping 16.
The last time the Susquehanna Women’s Basketball team upset a nationally ranked opponent was in 2021, where the River Hawks upset No.22 Bates University 72-66.
SU is hoping its early-season success will translate once it comes time to play its powerful Landmark Conference opponents in Scranton, Catholic and Elizabethtown.
“It’s going to give us experience against a really great team,” Holko said. “I think that we can go up there and we can run with the best of them.”