At only 5'2" tall, CHC guard Mary Trossi was able to record the first triple-double in program history in an overtime win against Kutztown University. The Griffins sophomore had 17 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists in the 94-92 victory on December 17. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption]

by Tom Utescher

After seeing a 10-point second-quarter lead go away before halftime, the women of Chestnut Hill College were still only down by three points with a little over six minutes to go in last Monday's game against Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Southern Division leader University of the Sciences.

A 9-2 run then put the visiting Devils up by 10 points (72-62), and the rest of the way USciences scored solely from the foul line, making 12 of 14 attempts to secure an 84-73 win over the CHC Griffins. Chestnut Hill went into the holiday break with a mark of 7-5 overall and 3-3 within the CACC, while USciences rose to 5-1 in conference play, and 10-2 against all opponents.

Last Monday the USciences Devils arrived with a number of players familiar to local athletes who played ball in the Inter-Ac, Catholic Academies, and Friends Schools leagues. Former AACA standout Molly Greenberg of St. Basil's was out with an injury, but Brigit Coleman, a freshman out of Gwynedd Mercy, saw a lot of action. Among the starters for the Devils were juniors Sarah Abbonizio (Episcopal Academy) and Colleen Walsh (Shipley School).

After the visitors edged ahead at the outset, 4-2, CHC's Caity Kuhnen put in a 15-footer, and then both she and fellow senior Brittany McDonough popped in three-point field goals, lifting the Griffins to a 10-4 lead and prompting a USciences time-out just under four minutes into the game.

The Devils quickly got back into it as freshman Jordan Vitelli (Central Bucks South) hit three times from the three-point loop, but junior Vicky Tumasz tossed in a triple from the left corner for the hosts, and when sophomore forward Jaeda Wildgoose deposited her third field goal from the paint, the first quarter concluded with Chestnut Hill ahead, 21-18.

As round two got underway, Kuhnen connected from a step past the foul line and junior forward Nicole Pariski chalked up an old-time three-point play with a converted rebound and a made free throw. The Griffins got their lead into double digits at 28-18 when Wildgoose registered her fourth field goal of the evening about three minutes into the second stanza.

The momentum then changed abruptly, as if someone had flipped a switch that sent all of the positive current the Devils' way. They clamped a lid on the CHC shooters while reeling off 19 straight points of their own to lead 37-28 at the intermission.

The USciences run began with a medium range jumper by sophomore Alex Thomas, who was starting slowly in what would become a game and career-high 24-point performance. Former Gwynedd Monarch Coleman and former Shipley Gator Walsh hit back-to-back treys, then Walsh went inside for a pair of lay-ups that moved the visitors ahead, 30-28. They kept on going to secure a nine-point margin as Vitelli netted her fourth "three" to lead all scorers with 13 points at halftime.

"We took some really quick shots and we had a mental lapse," CHC's West said of this pivotal stretch. "We just can't take five minutes off here and there. We held our own most of the game, but we lost that one quarter by 12 points and we ended up losing the game by 11."

In the opening minute of the third quarter, a pair of three-pointers launched by the right flank by McDonough made it three-point contest (37-34) before the scoring resumed for USciences. Five minutes later the Devils owned a double-digit lead at 55-44, but the third quarter closed with a free throw and lay-up by CHC's Wildgoose and then a baseline jumper by Kuhnen that drew the deficit down to six points, 55-49.

The visitors' advantage continued to fluctuate between the low and high single digits for much of the fourth period, but they always held the lead.

"They move the ball well and they shoot the ball well," noted CHC mentor West. "We kept cutting the lead, but we could never get over the hump to get it tied and then get the lead back."

On offense, he said, "We wanted to get out in transition and run. When we did we got some easy shots, but we couldn't do that as often as we wanted to. Defensively, we tried to contest all of their 'three's', and though we did a good job with that most of the game, we had some breakdowns."

His ballclub was just two points back early in the fourth quarter after Wildgoose scored from the paint and Trossi hit a lay-up in transition. Next. USciences' Thomas put in back-to-back three-pointers to keep the Griffins at bay.

Later, with a little over six minutes left, a trey by Tumasz had the margin back down to three points before the Devils pulled away once more in the final phase of the contest.

In addition to the game-high two-dozen points by Thomas, USciences sourced 20 points from Vitelli, 11 from junior Laura Trisch (five rebounds), 10 from Walsh, and nine from Abbonizio (five assists).

Chestnut Hill also enjoyed balanced scoring, with five athletes in double figures; Wildgoose (17 points with a game-high 10 rebounds), Kuhnen (14 points), Tumasz (13 points with three-for-four accuracy from three-point range), Trossi (12 points with five assists), and McDonough (10 points and with four assists).

Going into the holiday break, the Griffins' West commented, "We're ahead of where we were last year and we're in the play-off hunt, but we're still not where we want to be. We need to shoot fouls and rebound better, and in general we just need keep our focus and play together for a full 40 minutes."