CHESTER, Pa. – With a strong first half against the Alvernia Golden Wolves, the Pride were able to secure a 65-56 win and snap their four-game losing streak.

The Pride now sit at 6-13 in the regular season and 3-7 in MAC Commonwealth games.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Mary McFillin led the way for Widener with 16 points. She was also 4-11 from downtown.
• The Pride outscored the Golden Wolves by 27 points when it came to triples (10 of 26 (38.5) shots for Widener).
• Widener held the lead for a controlling 91% of the game.

HOW IT HAPPENED AT SCHWARTZ ATHLETIC CENTER

The Pride began the game with a scorching-hot 14-2 run. With the score at 6-2, McFillin cashed in on back-to-back triples, which led to an Alvernia timeout. Jordan D'Ambrosio added a three of her own to make the score 17-4. After the Golden Wolves resorted to free throws to get on the board, Lia Samuels and McFillin hit one triple each to increase the lead to 23-8. With just about a minute left in the quarter, Mia Robbins converted a layup. The first quarter ended 25-11. The Pride kept the Golden Wolves scoreless from beyond the arc, and the Pride grabbed five more rebounds than the visitors (12-7).

Widener got things started in the second quarter with a Gianna Samuels jumper. Ava Baer then got to the foul line and hit both shots. The score was 29-13 with under seven minutes in the half. A few moments later, Widener scored an 8-0 run, initiated by a D'Ambrosio triple. This run got the score up to 37-15 Widener. To end the first half, the Pride kept raining threes. Lia Samuels and D'Ambrosio hit back-to-back shots from beyond the arc to end the scoring for either side. The Pride went into the break with a 23-point lead, 45-22. In the second quarter, the Golden Wolves never had the lead. Widener shot 7-18 (38.9%).

The third quarter was when Alvernia tried to climb back into the game. A 5-0 push from them was ended, though, with a step-back from Gianna Samuels. The Pride missed some shots in this portion of the game and were losing ground in the offensive-rebound battle. With 3:57 to go, Robbins hit a layup to make the score 49-33 Widener. She went 1-2 from the charity stripe a minute later. With 2:26 remaining, the Pride got their final bucket of the quarter from a McFillin layup. The score after three quarters had the Pride leading 52-38. The Pride were 3 of 17 (17.6%) in the quarter, but collected 11 rebounds. Three were on the offensive end.

Rachel Ludwig scored the initial basket in the fourth for either side. It give McFillin her fourth dime of the night. Not even 30 seconds later, McFillin hit a triple to make the score 57-38. After some defensive stops, Widener cashed in on a Gianna Samuels layup. Although Alvernia got to within single digits, the outcome of the game was never in doubt. Free throws from the Pride put the game away, with the final score being Widener 65-56. For the entire game, the Pride blocked seven shots, scored 26 bench points, and almost doubled the Golden Wolves in assists, 17-9.

UP NEXT
The Pride get a week off before facing the Stevenson University Mustangs next Wednesday, Feb. 1, in Owings Mills, Md. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.