AVE MARIA, Fla.- The Ave Maria University women's basketball team erased a 15-point second quarter deficit, and snapped a five-game losing streak with a 62-60 victory over the Thomas University Night Hawks at the Rhodora J. Donahue Academy gymnasium on Saturday afternoon. AMU did not win any of the four quarters until the last one, hitting several huge shots down the stretch to complete a season series sweep of the Night Hawks.
In the opening ten minutes, Thomas jumped out to an early lead, scoring the first four points of the game. The first quarter was essentially divided into two parts - the first 5:16, when Thomas outscored Ave Maria 12-9, and the final 4:44, which saw zero points scored. In that time frame, AMU was 0-for-5 from three-point range, but responded by forcing seven missed shots from the Night Hawks.
Thomas extended their lead in the second quarter, going on a 14-0 run to extend a 12-11 lead to 26-11 with 3:45 remaining in the half. The Gyrenes came up with a huge response, though, scoring the final eleven points of the half to enter the break trailing by just four, 28-24. Ave Maria made three three-pointers in the run - two from Taylor Allen and one from Hunter Chambers.
Following the halftime break, Thomas built their lead back up to eleven points, 43-32, with 3:51 on the clock. The Gyrenes once again ended the quarter with a flurry, outscoring the Night Hawks 9-2 in the last 3:40 to once again cut the Night Hawk lead back to four points.
Trailing by six with less than eight minutes to play, the Gyrenes proceeded to go on a 9-0 run to take their first lead of the game on an and-one from Megan Allen with 4:28 remaining. Thomas scored the next four points to go back in front, but AMU hit three free throws to retake a 53-51 lead with less than two minutes on the clock. Freshman Catie Reszel then hit arguably the biggest shot of her AMU career, a dagger three that put the Gyrenes up five with 1:20 to go. AMU hit enough free throws in the final minute to ice the win.
Syanne Rowe, who hit all four of her field goal attempts and scored 14 points in the second half, led the Gyrenes with 20 points and six rebounds. Taylor Allen followed with 14 points, knocking down three of her six three-point attempts. Ave Maria shot 41.3 percent from the field in the win, and made more than 50 percent of their tries from inside the arc. Thomas had three players in double figures, led by a 15-point effort from Destiny Reed.
The Gyrenes will look to make it two in a row on Monday night, when the Royals of Warner University make the trip to Southwest Florida. The Gyrenes and Royals are scheduled to play twice in a span of eleven days, with AMU making the return trip to Lake Wales on February 11. Tipoff between AMU and Warner is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Rhodora J. Donahue Academy gymnasium.
