YORK, PA - York College of Pennsylvania's Chanel Perez tallied a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds as the Spartans defeated Franklin & Marshall College 81-73 in non-conference women's basketball action at Wolf Gymnasium.
York (2-2, 0-0 Capital Athletic Conference), playing in its final season in Wolf Gymnasium, rallied from an early 14-9 deficit with 15:17 left in the first half as the Spartans fashioned a 16-3 spurt that covered seven minutes, turning a five-point deficit into a 25-17 YCP lead. The Diplomats countered the run with an 11-3 streak to knot the game at 28-28 with 4:36 remaining in the half. After the game was tied for the fourth time in the half at 30, the Spartans scored 14 of the final 21 points of the half as they took a 44-37 lead into the break.
Franklin & Marshall regained the lead in the opening minutes of the second half as forward Emily Weaver (Sr., Prince Frederick, MD/Calverton) made a free-throw, forward Brittany Braxton (So., Pearl River, NY/Nanuet) dropped in a lay-up, guard Dana Johns (Sr., York, PA/Eastern York) converted a pair of free-throws and guard Christy Strunk (Sr., Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) stroked a three-pointer to go ahead 45-44 with 17:45 left on the clock. York's Jess Huntley made a lay-up to put the Spartans back in front, but Weaver hit a lay-up to inch F&M ahead 47-46 at the 17:01 mark.
However, York engineered a 12-4 run to lead 59-53 with 12:29 left in the game as the Spartans pushed their lead out to seven points at 65-58 before F&M went on an 8-0 spurt to go in front 66-65 on a lay-up by forward Joanna DiPallo (Fr., Dublin, PA/Pennridge) with 6:18 on the clock.
York's Heidi Miller made the backend of a pair of free throws to knot the score at 66-66, but F&M's Sarah Meisenberg (Fr., Severna Park, MD/Severn School) knocked down a jumper at 5:51 to put the Diplomats back in the lead at 68-66.
The Diplomats pushed the advantage to five points at 73-68 with 3:04 left, but the Spartans closed out the game with a 13-0 run to take the win.
York cut F&M's lead to three points on a lay-up by Perez at 2:37 before she made the second of a pair of free-throws to slice the margin to a point with 1:49 to play. The Spartans tied the game on a Keli Ward lay-up with 1:17 left in regulation.
The Spartans' defense then took over the game as Kristen Daly corralled a steal with 55 seconds to play and Miller drilled a three-pointer from the top of the key with 49 seconds left to give York at 76-73 lead. Miller padded the lead with 13 seconds left as she made a pair of free throws to give the Spartans a 78-73 lead.
Following a foul to stop the clock, Daly hit a free throw and missed the second but Perez rebounded the miss and hit a short jumper to provide for the game's final margin.
Overall, Franklin & Marshall did not score over the last 3:04 of the game as the team went 0-for-five from the floor with a turnover.
For York, Miller added 15 points and three steals, while Daly chipped in 15 points and eight rebounds as the Spartans shot 44.8% (30-of-67) from the field, 28.6% (two-of-seven) from beyond the arc and 79.2% (19-of-24) from the charity stripe in the win.
Strunk led the Diplomats with 19 points and three steals, while Braxton tallied nine points and a game high 14 rebounds. Meisenberg added 11 points and Johns chipped in eight points.
Historically, the win improves York to 9-10 all-time against Franklin & Marshall as the Spartans have won the past four meetings between the two programs.
Franklin & Marshall College (1-3, 0-1 CC) will continue the season on November 30 at Haverford College in Centennial Conference action. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.
