Photo Courtesy of Susquehanna Athletics
By Thamoda Haputhanthri
Women’s Basketball Head Coach Gabrielle Holko celebrated her 100th career win with the River Hawks soaring to a 66-51 win over Wilkes on Wednesday at O.W. Houts Gymnasium.
Susquehanna University celebrated National Girls and Women in Sports Day alongside Association of Women in Sports Media (AWSM) week, featuring an all women broadcast for the game.
Coach Holko spoke on the importance of women’s contribution in sports: “I had amazing women coaches in my life, so I am super lucky and super happy to have these amazing women to look up to.”
Susquehanna came out the gates hot offensively, jumping out to an early 27-9 after the first quarter. Senior Julia Pinckert was on a roll early on, scoring seven of Susquehanna’s first nine points and finishing the first quarter with 10 points.
As a team, the River Hawks sunk five three–pointers in the first quarter, which helped them to score 27 total points in the first frame.
The River Hawks would keep rolling come the second half with the score standing at 42-18. Junior guard Annie Greek and Pinckert would both drop 13 points each in the first half to lead all scorers heading into the locker room.
The second half would see more of an unprecedented close battle, with Wilkes applying pressure in the third and fourth quarters and giving the River Hawks an intense battle on the court. After the impressive 27–point first quarter, the River Hawks would score 21 points in the second half, keeping the door open for Wilkes.
However, the first half start for the River Hawks would prove to be too much for the Colonel as Susquehanna would hold on to take the 66-51 win.
Junior guard Annie Greek would lead scoring of the night with 18 points and a 50% shooting percentage for the night, making 4 threes. Carly George pushed her career rebounds closer to the 600 mark, with eight rebounds on the night. The River Hawks would end with a 36.2 shooting percentage, with Wilkes charting a 29.6 percentage.
Coach Holko’s first career win came against Wilkes during her time as head coach of Marywood University, and poetically so she earned her 100th career win against the same opponent.
“The number goes next to my name, but these girls do all the work,” Holko said. “I have to thank all the players that I have coached… I thank them so much for trusting me and letting me lead them.”
Susquehanna will play host to Lycoming next on Saturday, Feb 7 at 4:00 pm as part of Susquehanna’s University’s Alumni weekend. The River Hawks will look to push their landmark conference win total to 11 on the year.