LANCASTER, PA -- Center Amy Abernathy (Sr., Far Hills, NJ/American School Paris) pulled down 18 rebounds and hit nine-of-15 from the field for 19 points, in addition to swatting eight blocked shots, to key the Franklin & Marshall College women's basketball team to a 73-39 win over Ursinus College in Centennial Conference action.
The performance marked the second straight game in which the 6-0 center missed her first career triple-double by two blocked shots as she chipped in 12 points, 12 rebounds and eight blocked shots in a 68-56 loss at McDaniel on Wednesday.
Abernathy, who is quickly closing in on becoming the second F&M women's basketball player to record 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds as she now has 1,231 points and 956 rebounds, dominated the Bears under the basket grabbing 11 defensive boards and seven offensive boards to power the Diplomats' offense.
A chief component in the victory was rebounding as the team finished with 18 points off 12 rebounds from the offensive glass as F&M out-rebounded Ursinus (3-4, 2-2 Centennial Conference) 40-33 behind Abernathy's play, including a 28-21 advantage on the defensive glass.
Overall, Franklin & Marshall built an early lead and never looked back as Kelly Williams (Sr., Forty-Fort, PA/Bishop Hoban) and Abernathy dropped in pairs of field goals for an 8-0 lead 7:21 into the game. Ursinus responded to cut the lead to 10-4 at 11:19 and 18-12 at 6:54 as Ursinus failed to move within six points of the Diplomats for the remainder of the game.
Leading 29-20 at halftime, the Diplomats exploded in the second half behind the play of Abernathy as the preseason All-America center knocked down five-of-six field goal attempts for 11 points, corralled seven rebounds and swatted four blocked shots as Franklin & Marshall College outscored Ursinus 44-19 in the final 20 minutes of the game.
A key to the second half for F&M was the play of point guard Dana Johns (So., York, PA/Eastern York) who connected on a trio of three-pointers in the first 2:30 as the Diplomats outscored the Bears 21-6 over the first 10 minutes of the half to coast to the victory.
In addition to Abernathy, forward Lauren Dodrill (Jr., Timonium, MD/Roland Park) was the only other player to break into double digits as the made connected on seven-of-eight free throws to compliment a pair of field goals for 11 points. Johns and Williams both added nine, while guard Maura Lentz (Jr., Baltimore, MD/Catonsville) chipped in eight.
For Ursinus, Molly Guntli led the Bears with seven points and seven rebounds, while Julia Tramontana and Mary Kate Daley registered six points apiece in the effort.
Franklin & Marshall (4-6, 4-2 Centennial Conference) will return to action on January 13 at Swarthmore College. Game time is set for 2:00 p.m.
