ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Roberts Wesleyan Unversity women's basketball team used a fast start and balanced scoring to put together its most impressive performance of the season on Monday evening.
The Redhawks jumped to a 15-7 lead after the first quarter and rolled to an 82-66 victory over the University of the District of Columbia in an East Coast Conference game at the Voller Athletic Center.
"It was a great team win," Roberts coach Kevin Clifford said. "Our zone was effective, we won the rebounding battle, we shared the basketball and we got contributions from everybody."
Freshman Grace Galgano scored a career-high 25 points to lead four Redhawks in double-figures. Junior guard Georgia Haverlock scored 12 points, freshman Riley Childress added a career-high 11 and freshman Paris Anthony contributed 10 points for Roberts (3-12, 2-6), which snapped a six-game losing streak.
"It started in warmups and carried over into the game when we got the first bucket," said Anthony, whose layup 26 seconds into the game gave the Redhawks the early lead. "That gave us the momentum and we took it from there."
Junior guard Danielle DiCintio added eight points and a team-high five assists and sophomore forward Grace Dow added eight while making 4 of 5 shot attempts from the floor.
Galgano, a 5-10 forward, converted three conventional three-point plays in the first half and eclipsed her previous career mark of 18 points by converting two free throws with 52 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
She made 7 of 9 shots from the floor and went 6-for-7 from the line as Roberts outscored the Firebirds 24-4 in the paint during the first 20 minutes.
"My teammates did a great job getting the ball inside and we were able to take advantage of some of the matchups," Galgano said. "Once we got the inside game going, we were able to kick the ball back outside and get some great looks."
"There's an art to it, there's angles, there's leaning in and there's toughness," Clifford said of Galgano's ability to play through contact and finish near the basket.
Childress converted a pair of three-point shots in the second quarter and finished 3-for-4 from long range. She said the hot shooting was contagious.
"Once one person started going off, other people started going off and it gave us a lot of confidence," she said.
The Redhawks held a 40-24 advantage at the half and led by as many as 25 points in the fourth quarter. Roberts finished with a season-high 82 points.
"It felt really, really good to get the win," Galgano said. "I think that everyone on our team was just excited and happy to see all of our hard work and everything that we have been putting into the team throughout our struggles pay off."
"Tonight was about one more," Clifford said. "We made one more pass and we played team basketball, it was Roberts basketball."
 The Redhawks wrap up their three-game homestand at 2 p.m. on Saturday with an ECC contest against the College of Staten Island.