McHenry, MD – Aleeya Silver's 36 points – and a third-quarter defensive effort that nearly blanked the visiting Titans – helped the Garrett College women's basketball team pull away for a 67-47 win last Wednesday night over the Community College of Beaver County.
Silver (five steals, four rebounds) hit 16-of-19 shots from the field, including 3-of-4 from the 3-point line, as the Lady Lakers (7-5) snapped a two-game skid. The defense, meanwhile, missed a third-quarter shutout when Titans guard Sydney Cook threw in a 3-pointer from well behind the arc with 39 seconds left in the quarter.
"We started to trap the guard on the screen up top, and we also did a lot of denying of the wing," GC head coach JT Lewis said of his squad's strong, third-quarter defensive effort.
Silver said improved defensive intensity played a key role in GC's third-quarter performance.
"Coach told us at halftime that we needed to hustle more and shut her down," Silver said, referring to Cook, who threw in 31 points in a losing effort. "She was the main person killing us on their offensive end."
Silver – who came directly from a GC class, missing most of the pre-game warm-ups – scored six first-quarter points as the Lady Lakers took a 14-13 lead. CCBC took its last lead, 15-14 early in the second quarter, as Emily Sedgwick hit a layup on a nice post-up move. Silver, however, tied the game with a free throw and put GC ahead to stay with a layup.
Garrett started to take control late in the second quarter, finishing the half with an 11-3 run. Silver had three layups and a 3-pointer during the run, completing a 12-point second quarter and an 18-point first half as GC built a 32-22 lead.
Garrett broke the game open by scoring the first 15 points of the third quarter. Four different Lady Lakers scored to start the run, which gave GC a 47-22 lead before Cook drained a long-range 3-pointer.
"She's a really good player to be able to shoot from that range with amount of pressure we were applying," Silver said of Cook, who finished with 31 of Beaver's 47 points.
Manuela Perez de Castro joined Silver in double figures with 12 points for the Lady Lakers. Gabriella Valentinetti (10 rebounds, two blocks) added seven points.
Notes: GC scored 40 of its 67 points on lay-ups.
"We normally don't get to the rim that well," observed Lewis. "We had good ball movement with a lot of people cutting to the basket and finishing at the rim."
The Lady Lakers added women's soccer player Joanna Collins to the roster, giving GC eight players going forward.
"We can play a little more aggressively," Lewis said of Collins' impact. "She has a great attitude and she's helping us out a lot in practice. I was happy we were able to get her into the game today."
