Hanover College’s women’s basketball squad notched its ninth consecutive win against the College of Mount St. Joseph (Ohio) with a 75-55 triumph in a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference clash, Wednesday, Jan. 2, in Collier Arena.
Freshman guard Ashley Malloy (Salem, Ind.) scored a season-high 13 points to lead Hanover. Senior forward Katie Gahimer (St. Paul, Ind.) had 12 points and senior forward Courtney Prater (Anderson, Ind.) added 11 for the Panthers, now 9-3 overall and 3-2 in the league.
Tara Dennis netted a game-high 17 points and Melanie Monahan added 10 for Mount St. Joseph (3-9; 2-3 HCAC).
Hanover shot just 30.6 percent from the field (19-of-62), but earned a 47-38 advantage on the glass and used its pressure to generate 32 Mount St. Joseph turnovers.
Prater scored four points to help the Panthers jump out to an 8-0 lead in the opening four minutes of action. Dennis scored eight points as Mount St. Joseph battled to grab a 20-19 lead with 5:35 left in the half.
Senior guard Natalie Morse (Mitchell, Ind.) canned a three-pointer and Malloy added a bucket from beyond the arc and two free throws to ignite an 11-0 run to bolt Hanover into a 31-20 lead with 2:22 left in the period.
The Panthers held a 35-24 lead at the break and pushed the margin to 17 points (44-27) six minutes into the second half before Mount St. Joseph made a final charge.
Dennis scored seven points and Monahan added four as the Lions used a 12-4 run during a four-minute stretch to cut the margin to nine points (48-39) with 10 minutes remaining in the contest.
Prater scored four consecutive points and junior forward Elyse Weddle (Bloomfield, Ind.) followed with six of her own as Hanover countered with a 14-4 burst to build a 62-43 cushion with six minutes to go.
The Panthers nudged the margin to 21 points (66-45) with five minutes left and Mount St. Joseph would get no closer than 18 points (67-49) the rest of the way.
Prater pulled down seven rebounds and Gahimer added six to lead Hanover’s effort on the glass.
The Panthers finished 4-of-20 from three-point range and were 33-of-47 from the free throw stripe (70.2%).
Hanover vs. Mount St. Joseph (Ohio) statistics
Published Wednesday, January 2, 2013