CHC guard J.J. Butler pulls up for a shot during last week's season finale. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

Chestnut Hill College basketball fans gathered in Sorgenti Arena last Tuesday evening to watch their Griffins in action on their home court for the final time this season. Unfortunately, it wasn't a very satisfying experience for the CHC faithful, as first the women and then the men fell to their visiting counterparts from Goldey Beacom College.

The women from Wilmington, Delaware drove their lead up into double figures in the final quarter to win 89-72. Coached by 2006 CHC grad Bethann (Castone) Burke, Goldey Beacom improved to 13-6 in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference and 17-11 overall, finishing second in the southern division of the conference and earning home court advantage for the quarterfinal round of the CACC tournament.

Under second-year head coach Mike West, CHC is also bound for the conference playoffs, as last Tuesday's outcome gave the Griffins' a mark of 11-7 (16-10 overall) at the end of the regular season. Placing third in the CACC South, the Griffins were slated to travel to Bloomfield (N.J.) College (number two in the CACC North) for their playoff debut.

The regular season ended in a very different manner for the Chestnut Hill men. They let the game get from them entirely just over the final seven minutes, as a trifling 65-61 shortfall devolved into a resounding 96-63 defeat. With a record of 5-21 overall and 2-17 in-conference, the male Griffins were not destined for postseason play.

In the early minutes of the women's game, three-point field goals from three different players helped the visiting Lightning go up 16-9, but in the last three minutes freshman guard Shannon Glenn furnished a three-pointer and a free throw for the Griffins. Chestnut Hill forward Jaeda Wildgoose, a sophomore, closed the first frame with a lay-up that had the hosts just one point back, 17-18.

Junior guard Vicky Tumasz hit a lay-up and a pair of three-point buckets as the Griffins forged ahead in the second quarter, leading 36-33 with a little over two minutes to go until halftime. Goldey Beacom countered from the perimeter, and a pair of treys by junior Lexi Bruno helped Bethann Burke's bunch enjoy a 41-36 advantage at the interlude.

Offense from Wildgoose, fellow sophomore Mary Trossi, and senior Kaity Kuhnen kept Chestnut Hill within five points over the first half of the third period, with the tally at 47-42 in the middle of the quarter. The Lightning had levered their lead out to eight points by the end of the period, but a Wildgoose lay-up at the start of the fourth stanza had the Griffins back within six, 54-60.

GBC freshman Amanda McGrogan, who had hit from long range early in the game, now got going again from the outside. She made a pair of three-point buckets, and when she was fouled on another attempt, she deposited all three free throws. In the middle of the period, the Lightning's Bruno bagged a triple and then scored off of a steal, and now Chestnut Hill was looking at a deficit approaching 20 points at 74-56.

The Griffins were able to narrow the gap a bit, but they never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way and despite a last-second lay-up by CHC freshman Cailey Gibson, the margin was back up to 17 at the final horn, 89-72.

Glenn and Tumasz produced 14 points apiece to pace the Griffins and Glenn gathered a team-high six rebounds. Also scoring in double figures for the hosts were Wildgoose, with a dozen points, and Trossi and junior forward Nicole Parriski, each with 10. Kuhnen had eight points and a team-leading four assists.

Goldey Beacom markswomen McGrogan and Bruno (11 rebounds, 14 assists) scored 27 and 19 points, respectively, but it was junior forward Britani Bryson, working on the inside, who posted the game high of 28 points.

Demetrius Isaac, a junior guard out of Penn Charter, got the scoreboard rolling in the men's game. His sophomore teammate, Liban Awl, added a mid-range jumper and two free throws, and a little later a three-pointer by junior forward Chris Evans had the Griffins out to a 9-2 lead almost five minutes into the contest.

The Lightning caught up and passed their hosts with a 15-0 run, and later, with 90 seconds to go in the half, they were ahead by a dozen, 35-23. The Griffins' Awl then stuck a three-point shot from the right corner, launching a 9-4 Chestnut Hill spurt to finish the half. Isaac supplied the other points with a six-for-six showing at the foul line, and the count was 39-32 at halftime.

Midway through the second round the home team was one point closer with the score now 61-55. The Lightning added a few more points to their margin, but then Nasir Bell, a freshman guard out of Martin Luther King High School, drove for a lay-up and then broke downcourt for back-to-back dunks, closing up the score to 65-61 with a little under seven-and-a-half minutes to play.

After that, though, the CHC offense vanished entirely. The ball refused to penetrate the rim at the Griffins' end of the court, while Goldey Beacon pushed the tempo successfully and romped away into the distance. In seven minutes, the Lightning rang up 30 unanswered points. The game ended with a drive down the lane by CHC junior Drew Conboy (Plymouth Whitemarsh), but the final reckoning was still discouraging, 96-63.

The Chestnut Hill scoring effort was led by Bell (16 points), Isaac (14) and Awl (10 points, five rebounds), with Evans ending up with seven points to go with a team-high seven rebounds.

Goldey Beacom (20-6, 14-5 CACC) had senior guard Riyan Williams (a transfer from Georgetown) piling up a game-high 27 points, and he was followed by junior forward Dante Thompson, who recorded 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds to share the game high in that category with CHC's Evans.