Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
11-5, 3-3
Bucknell
11-6, 3-3
Daizjah Morris' Career Game Leads Army Over Bucknell
January 18, 2015 | Women's Basketball
Army improves to 11-5 overall and 3-3 in the Patriot League with the win, while Bucknell drops to 11-6 and 3-3.
Minato led the Black Knights with a game-high 25 points on 8-of-11 shooting to include a 4-of-6 performance on three-pointers. With her double-digit scoring effort, Minato reached 65th straight games with at least 10 points to surpass the mark of 64 set by Bucknell's Molly Creamer from 2001-03.
Morris established career standards of 22 points, seven field goals, six free throws, two three-pointers, and five steals, while playing in a career-high 27 minutes. Morris shot 7-for-9 from the field, while going 6-of-8 from the free throw line.
The Bison were paced by sophomore Claire DeBoer, who finished with 18 points and nine rebounds.
The Black Knights owned the game's first run, with Minato scoring six straight to put the hosts in front, 8-3, 3:21 into the contest. The Bison climbed back to make the score 8-7 until Army used a 9-2 run to extend its lead to eight with 11:54 to play in the first half. The run included an early four points from Morris, who teamed up with Minato to score all nine of the Black Knights' points during the stretch.
A three-pointer from Morris at the 2:52 mark of the period gave Army its first double-digit lead of the game, 31-21, before the Black Knights closed out the frame with an 11-4 run that included points from four different players. In total, Army outscored Bucknell, 16-4 over the final 3:24 of the first half.
The Black Knights also forced 10 Bucknell turnovers in the opening period, including six steals, before registering six more steals and forcing seven more turnovers in the second half.
Army scored eight of the first 10 points to begin the second half, which built the Black Knights' advantage to 23, 50-27, by the 14:37 mark of the period.
The Black Knights led by as many as 24 before the visitors cut their deficit to 17, with DeBoer scoring four points during a 9-2 run that took 2:55 off the clock. Army didn't allow Bucknell to come any closer, as the Black Knights outscored the Bison, 7-2, down the stretch.
"Coming off of a good win Wednesday, I thought our team was very focused," said Army head coach Dave Magarity. "We did a terrific job on both ends of the floor and we got an incredible lift from Daizjah Morris, who was coming off her best game against Holy Cross and obviously, had another career night. I'm happy that we won two games against two very good teams in Holy Cross and Bucknell and that we're back to defending our home court."
Army is back in action on Wednesday, Jan. 21, when the Black Knights travel to Colgate for a 7 p.m. match-up.
GAME NOTES: Army improves to 23-32 all-time versus Bucknell ... Kelsey Minato scored in double figures for the 65th game in a row to establish a Patriot League record, surpassing the mark of 64 straight contests set by Bucknell's Molly Creamer from 2001-03 ... Minato reached the 20-point mark for the 35th time in her career and reached 1,474 career points to pass Alex McGuire (USMA '09) for third in Academy history ... Daizjah Morris posted career highs of 22 points, seven field goals, six free throws, two three-pointers, five steals and 27 minutes played ... Army had multiple players score at least 20 points (Minato 25, Morris 22) for the first time since Minato and Jen Hazlett (USMA '14) each had 20 against American on Feb. 22, 2014.
