Women’s Basketball Struggles Early in Road Loss

LIVONIA, Mich. —  A 20-point deficit 12 minutes into Saturday’s (Jan. 25) road WHAC tilt at Madonna (10-11; 8-6 WHAC) was too much to overcome for the Marygrove women’s basketball team as the host Crusaders went on to win, 90-57. The loss keeps the Mustangs (2-19; 0-14 WHAC) winless in conference play since their arrival in July 2012.

The Crusaders shot out to the early 20-point lead by outscoring the Mustangs 31-11 over the first 12 minutes of action in Livonia Saturday. The Mustangs’ deficit would grow to as much as 22 points as Madonna’s Rachel Melcher connected on a pair of charity stripe tosses to balloon the Crusader lead to 33-11 with 7:29 remaining in the first half.

The Mustangs would close the gap to as little as 15 (44-29) with just under two minutes until the halftime horn would sound, but the Crusaders answered with another pair of free throws to take a 46-29 lead into the break. Madonna connected on 40% of their attempts from the field (13-of-32) while Marygrove converted on just 27% (10-of-37) of their attempts from the field in the first half. The Crusaders were able to draw the Mustangs into foul trouble on their way to making 17-of-22 free throws in the first half compared to Marygrove’s 7-of-13 effort from the charity stripe. The Mustangs and Crusaders combined for 27 fouls throughout the first 20 minutes of action.

In the second half, the Mustangs once again found it tough to connect from the field as the Crusaders went on to win by 33. Both teams shot 25-plus free throws on a day where neither the Mustangs nor Crusaders shot greater than 40% from the field.

The Mustangs were led by Ciara Moore (Detroit, Mich./Northwestern) and Arielle Edwards (Grand Rapids, Mich./Ottawa Hills) with 15 and 12 points respectively. Adrienne Weaver (Flint, Mich./Mott) followed with eight points, while Breomi Jackson (Detroit, Mich./Tennessee State) and Kierra Jordan (Westland, Mich./John Glenn) corralled a team-high six rebounds.

Melcher paced Madonna with a near triple-double of 16 points, 15 rebounds, and six assists.

The Mustangs will head to Grand Rapids Wednesday (Jan. 29) to take on Aquinas College at 6 p.m. The road conference game will feature live audio and live stats. Links to Wednesday’s coverage are available on marygrovemustangs.com.

Follow women’s basketball on twitter: @MGroveWBBALL

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