The Roberts Wesleyan College Lady Raiders won their third road game of the week in defeating the Carlow Celtics (7-18, 1-15 AMC) 79 – 42 in the American Mideast Conference season finale for both teams. The game was played at Donahue Pavilion in Pittsburg, PA. With the win, the Lady Raiders (18-10, 11-5 AMC), clinch the fifth seed in the AMC Conference Tournament. The tournament begins on Tuesday at a site to be determined following tonight's game between Notre Dame College and Cedarville University,
With the score tied at 9 with 15 minutes to go in the first half, a jumper by
Lindsay Kendall (SO, Rochester, NY) started a 20 – 9 Lady Raider run.
Cynnetha Bellinger (SR, Binghamton, NY) scored 5 points during the run, while Kendall and
Bianca Jones (JR, Long Island City, NY) each scored 4 points. The run was punctuated on a three pointer from
Marissa Bunce and the Lady Raiders had a 29 – 18 lead. Roberts would close the first half with a 15 – 1 run to open their largest lead of the first half at 44 – 21. The Raiders, who shot 53 percent in the first half, used jumpers from
Lindsay Kendall (SO, Rochester, NY) and
Morgan Skiff (JR, Rochester, NY) to get things started. Senior guard
Tiffany Wilson (Rochester, NY) then scored 7 straight points. She nailed a three from the corner on a pass from Bellinger, and then converted two consecutive steals into layups. Jumpers from
Jaimie Sedlack (SO, Watkins Glen, NY) and Bellinger capped the first half scoring. Kendall and Wilson each had 11 points in the half.
The Celtics scored the first 5 points of the second half. Two free throws from senior guard Sarah McAteer, who was playing her final game for Carlow and a three pointer from junior Carly Roscoe opened the scoring, McAteer, a 1,000 scorer in her career, was making her 100th start in a Carlow uniform.
The Raiders would go on another run, started by a three from Bunce and capped on a jumper from senior
Katie Lowell (Binghamton, NY). The Raider would lead 79 – 49 with 3 minutes remaining.
Roberts was led by Bunce with 13 points, 6 assist and 4 steals. Kendall and Wilson also contributed 13 points each. Kendall had 4 assists as the Raiders totaled 21 assists as a team. Wilson added 3 steals to the Raider total of 13 for the game. Jones finished with 9 points and 9 rebounds. Bellinger added 9 points and Lowell finished with a game high 11 rebounds as well as 3 assist and 2 steals. The Raiders out-rebounded the Celtics 50 – 33 including 22 offensive rebounds.
“We started a little slow today, but we cranked up the defensive intensity and that got us going,” said Raider coach
Bob Segave. “We really did a good job on the boards and we shot the ball really well in the first half. Lindsay (Kendall) and Tiffany (Wilson) were very aggressive attacking the basket early. That kept us in the game, and then our defense went to work."
