TERRE HAUTE, IND. -- St. Mary-of-the-Woods College held off a strong Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology rally to retain the Clabber Girl Trophy in a 56-54 women's basketball decision on Tuesday night.
Junior Alisa Dickerson (Elizabethtown, Ky.) and sophomore Lauren Meadows (Indianapolis/ Brebeuf) led the Rose-Hulman scoring attack with 15 points each.
Dickerson also recorded seven blocked
shots for the third most in a game in school history. Junior
Donna Marsh (Mobile, Ala./Baker) also reached
double figures with 12 points.
Other key contributors for Rose-Hulman included sophomore Erin Davey (St. Charles, Mo./Incarnate Word) with four points and six rebounds; and freshman Heather Finnell (Decatur, Tenn./Cleveland) with three points, five rebounds and four assists.
Brittany Shaner led the Pomeroys with 16 points and four steals. Chelsea Weaver came off the bench to reach double figures with 11 points.
St. Mary-of-the-Woods retained the Clabber Girl Trophy for the second consecutive year and increased its overall lead in the series to 13-5. The margin marked the closest game in series history.
Rose-Hulman jumped out to an early 12-4 lead, before St. Mary-of-the-Woods held the Engineers without a point for seven minutes to gain a 13-12 advantage. Weaver buried two three-pointers to give the Pomeroys a five-point lead, before Davey scored on a layup in the final seconds of the first half to make the score 19-16 at the break.
In the second half, St. Mary-of-the-Woods pushed its lead to 11 points at 31-20 and maintained a 10-point edge at 42-32 with 8:33 left in the contest. Meadows buried a three-pointer and Dickerson scored four points to close Rose-Hulman within 42-39 at the 5:54 mark.
St. Mary-of-the-Woods answered with an 8-2 run to gain a 50-41 lead with 2:22 left, before three straight baskets from Marsh closed Rose-Hulman within 51-47 with 50 seconds left. Weaver hit one of two free throws, and Marsh answered with two free throws of her own to close the margin within 52-49 at the 29-second mark.
Shaner hit two more free throws to give the Pomeroys a 54-49 edge, but Marsh added another score at the 17-second mark to bring Rose-Hulman within 54-51. Shaner hit one of two free throws, and Meadows drained a three-pointer with 5.1 seconds left to make the score 55-54. Brooke Brown hit the first of two free throws, and Jenni McLeish sealed the win with a steal on the game's last play.
St. Mary-of-the-Woods improved to 6-2 on the season, while
Rose-Hulman fell to 3-5. The Engineers host Marian University
on Saturday at 2 p.m.