Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
19-5, 11-3PL
Bucknell
15-10, 7-7PL
Army Comes From Behind to Defeat Bucknell, 50-46
February 15, 2015 | Women's Basketball
Army improves to 19-5 overall and 11-3 in the conference after the win, while Bucknell drops to 15-10 and 7-7. With their 11-3 Patriot League record, the Black Knights stand one game behind first-place American (12-2) and two games ahead of Lehigh (9-5).
Freshman Daizjah Morris recorded a steal with 15 seconds to play and junior Kelsey Minato drew an intentional foul on Army's ensuing possession before knocking down both free throws to give the visitors a 49-46 lead.
Senior Olivia Schretzman went 1-of-2 from the foul line with nine seconds to play to make the score 50-46 and the Black Knights held Bucknell scoreless the rest of the way to hold on for the win.
Minato led all scorers with 22 points and went 10-of-11 from the free throw line, while Schretzman tallied nine points.
Minato scored four of Army's first five points of the contest, as the Black Knights led 5-0 early before Bucknell scored its first basket at the 14:04 mark to begin a 14-0 run that lasted 9:35 and put the hosts ahead, 14-5.
The Black Knights netted the game's next four points to trim their deficit to five and the Bison answered with four straight points of their own to extend their lead back to nine, 18-9, with 3:29 remaining in the period.
Army tallied six of the final 10 points of the frame over the remaining 2:58, with Minato accounting for four of those points and sophomore Dani Failor converting a baseline jumper at the halftime buzzer to bring the Black Knights back to within seven points, 22-15, at the break.
Bucknell built its lead to 10, 25-15, after Dotson buried a three-pointer 1:33 into the second half. Minato answered with three straight points for the visitors before junior Sheaira Jones hit a lay-up in traffic to put the Bison up nine points at the 16:06 mark.
Schretzman scored four consecutive points, knocking in a pair of free throws with 15:22 remaining to bring the Black Knights back to within five, 27-22. Minato and freshman Destinee Morris scored 20 seconds apart to extend Army's run to 12-2 and make the score 29-27 with 12:55 to play in the second period.
Minato made three straight free throws with 10:23 on the clock to quiet a 2:32 scoreless streak for the Black Knights and make the score 34-30, but Jones knocked in a jumper at the 8:41 mark to cap a 6-0 run to build Bucknell's advantage to 40-30.
Freshman Janae McNeal scored to bring Army came back to within five points at the 7:55 and 6:52 marks before Army netted eight straight points to take its first lead of the game, 45-43, with 2:21 left. The Black Knights extended their run to 10-0 following back-to-back free throws from Daizjah Morris to increase the lead to four.
Sophomore Megan McGurk buried a three with 51 seconds remaining to bring Bucknell back to a one-point deficit, 47-46 and Army closed the game with three free throws to clinch the victory.
Army is back at Christl Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 18, when the Black Knights play host to Colgate at 7 p.m.
GAME NOTES: Army collects its third straight win over Bucknell to improve to 24-32 all-time versus the Bison ... Army earns its 10th straight win to mark its first double-digit-game winning streak since winning 12 straight during the 2006-07 campaign ... Kelsey Minato extended her Patriot League-record double-digit scoring streak to 73 contests ... Janae McNeal scored a career-high four points.
