Women’s Basketball Tripped Up By D’Youville, 65-62

AURORA, N.Y. – Despite a late surge by the Express, the Wells College women's basketball team posted a 65-62 loss to the Spartans of D'Youville College in their home opener at the Frances Tarlton Farenthold Athletic Wing on Thursday. With the loss, the Express dip to 1-3 overall on the year while D'Youville (1-2) picks up their first victory of the year following the non-conference contest.

Senior Ashley Roser (Taberg, N.Y.) secured a double-double for the 18th-straight game dating back to last season, scoring 28 points and chipping in with 13 rebounds. Senior Theresa Hernandez (Dewitt, N.Y.) secured her first collegiate double-double, scoring a career-best 10 points and 10 rebounds. Roser and classmate Kristen Ryan (Syracuse, N.Y.) each racked up five assists while junior Kaitlynne Knapp (Port Byron, N.Y.) led the way with four blocks for Wells.

The Spartans carried a 34-27 lead into the half, using 11 points from Alexis Smith in the first stanza to pace the guests. D'Youville, who led by four points (20-16) following a Hernandez jumper, secured a seven point lead following a Jean-Ann Korona three-point basket with 7:58 remaining in the first. The Express cut the deficit to three with 1:08 remaining in the half, using a Roser layup that unfortunately preceded back-to-back layups by Smith to close the half with the visitors up by seven.

The Express outscored D'Youville by a 35-31 margin in the second half alone, but an early deficit proved to be insurmountable. Trailing by a 43-31 margin with 15:21 left in the half, Wells mounted a late comeback by scoring nine-straight points in just under five minutes, culminating with a Hernandez layup with 11:56 remaining in regulation time to bring the score to 43-40.

Wells further shrunk the margin in the late stages of the game as a Roser layup cut the score to 63-62 with 1:51 remaining in regulation time. A Smith layup in the final minute proved to be the backbreaker as Wells missed all five of their shots within the final 23 seconds of regulation time.

Smith's 22 points led all players from D'Youville. Korona ranked second on the squad with 11 points while Shannon Dougherty tallied five assists for the visitors. Danette Laguerre, Korona and Bridget Andrews led the way for D'Youville with three steals.

Wells returns to action this Monday, Nov. 25 as they travel to play North Eastern Athletic Conference rival Cazenovia at 8:00 p.m.