basketball girlsCazenovia, N.Y. – The Wells College women’s basketball team set the single-game program record for point scoring on Sunday against Cazenovia College, defeating the host Wildcats by a 95-70 margin. Wells moves to 11-7 overall and to 7-4 within the North Eastern Athletic Conference – Cazenovia drops to 4-11 on the year and to 1-8 against conference foes.

Wells poured home 95 points, eclipsing the previous team record of 93 points scored on Feb. 14, 2015 against Penn College at home. Before Sunday’s offensive output, the previous record for points scored by the Express on the road was 88 against the SUNY Polytechnic Institute on Feb. 10, 2013.

Junior Ashida Cooper (Bensalem, Pa.) scored 20 points for Wells while also contributing with seven rebounds, six assists and four steals in a well-rounded effort. Senior Holli Erkson (Cooperstown, N.Y.) struck for 19 points, hauling in seven rebounds and dishing out four assists, while freshman Shelby Medovich (Harpursville, N.Y.) was third on the team with 18 points.

Sophomore Kamarie Maturine (Brooklyn, N.Y.) picked up 16 points and 11 rebounds, leading her squad in the latter category en route to her fourth double-double in five games. Freshman Vielka Barber (Holly Springs, N.C.) also reached double-digits off the bench for Wells, scoring 11 points and earning eight rebounds in only 22 minutes played.

As a team, Wells made 37 field goals (second-most all-time) and outrebounded Cazenovia by a 58-to-31 margin. Collectively, the team was 37-for-81 from the floor (.457) while the Wildcats were hampered by a .371 field goal percentage (23-for-62) after making only eight-of-32 field goals in the opening 20 minutes.

The game started off in Cazenovia’s favor as the hosts opened up a game-high four point lead with 2:06 left in the first half following a layup in the paint by D’Andrea Watson. Despite a trey from Medovich down the stretch, both teams ended up deadlocked at 24 after the opening 10 minutes of play.

Wells never looked back, however, after opening the second quarter on a 14-0 run that spanned 4:48 and was capped off by a three-pointer by senior Jasmine Thomas (Las Vegas, Nev.) to create a 35-21 lead. Back-to-back free throws by Cazenovia came before two-straight three-pointers and a layup from Erkson to propel the Express to a 43-23 lead.

The Express saw its lead grow to 30 points in the third quarter as a layup by Medovich with 12 seconds left created a 76-46 advantage. The fourth quarter, however, saw Wells open up a game-high 35 point lead as a Barber three-pointer was sandwiched between two layups from Maturine with 7:13 left to elevate her team to a 83-48 lead.

Cazenovia outscored Wells by a 22-to-12 margin in the game’s final 6:53, but the extended run of offense in the second quarter provided insurance. Skylar Girard led Cazenovia with 23 points, shooting 8-for-17 from the floor, while Megan Plahanski and Watson posted 12 points off the bench for the Wildcats.

Wells will welcome the Phoenix from Wilson College to campus on Saturday, Feb. 6 before hosting the Bison from Gallaudet University on Sunday, Feb. 7. Both games will tip at 3 p.m. within the Farenthold Athletic Wing.

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