COLLEGEVILLE, PA. - The Ursinus College Women's Basketball team was unable to overcome a slow second half as they were knocked off by Franklin & Marshall by a score of 67-54.
Sophomore Maria D'Aulerio led the Bears offense in points scored with 16 and posted one assist and one rebound. Freshman Chinwe Irondi added 15 points and tallied 9 rebounds. Gabby Downs recorded 9 points, going 3-5 from behind the arc.
D'Aulerio got things going for the Bears in the opening frame, tallying a three-pointer at the 7:35 mark. Irondi scored on back-to-back possessions to stretch the Bears lead to three. The Diplomats answered with a Kenna Williams jump shot and layup to give F&M an 8-7 lead. D'Aulerio would be fouled on a three-point attempt and knock home all three free throws to make the score, 10-8 Bears.
After F&M answered with a layup at the 4:09 mark, Gabby Downs would swish a three-pointer for a three-point lead with 3:53 remaining in the first quarter. Sophomore Natalie Mehl would give the Bears a four-point lead after a layup fell in at the buzzer. The Bears led 16-12 after the first quarter.
The Diplomats would go on an 8-3 run to start the second quarter and led 20-19 after Williams was fouled and converted both free throws. Williams would make two more free throw attempts at the 4:42 mark, stretching the Diplomats lead to three. The Bears would regain the lead after a Kelly Grant layup was followed up by a Mehl three to make the score 25-24 Ursinus. Franklin and Marshall answered with a layup from Quinn Galligan with 1:47 remaining in the first half and made the score 26-25 F&M. D'Aulerio would knock down a three followed by a layup from Mehl as the Bears led 30-27 at the half.
In the third quarter, F&M scored eight straight points in the first four minutes to take the control and momentum of the contest. Natalie Kolb and Kennedy Wilburn both made back-to-back jump shots as the Diplomats led 35-30 with 5:33 remaining. Downs would answer with a three-pointer, followed by a D'Aulerio layup, which knotted the score at 35 a piece. Franklin and Marshall would go on a 13-4 run to close out the third quarter. Kolb scored seven points in the final three minutes to give F&M a 48-39 lead.
The Bears would put up a battle in the fourth quarter, but the lead proved to be too large as the Diplomats picked up their fifth conference victory of the season. Ursinus shot 33.9% (19-56) from the field and held the advantage from behind the arc, shooting 42.1% (8-19). F&M shot 50% (27-54) from the field but only 14% (2-14) from deep. The Diplomats held the advantage in rebounds 43-26 and shot 73% (11-15) from the charity stripe.
The Bears will return to action on Saturday as they travel to Carlisle, Pennsylvania for a Centennial Conference matchup with Dickinson College.