Contact: Tim Ertle

Follow Ursuline Athletics on Twitter / Follow Ursuline Athletics on Facebook

Follow Ursuline Basketball on Twitter / Follow Ursuline Basketball on Facebook / Become a fan of Ursuline Basketball on Facebook
 

Box Score
 
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio – Ursuline's seven newcomers combined for 67 points and the Arrows put together a strong second half to win their season opener on Saturday (Nov. 9) night, 86-65 over Slippery Rock University.

Last year, UC's high was 82 points but as you watched the Arrows go up and down the court, it was clear that these are not the same Arrows.

UC led by as many as 16 points in the first half after freshman Jenny Grigsby hit a bucket to put UC up 28-12 with 7:46 remaining in the first period. The Rock closed the half with a nice little run and cut the deficit to six (36-30) at the intermission.

Slippery Rock got within two at 36-34 before an 8-0 Ursuline run by the freshmen made it a 44-34 game. From that point on, the Rock never got closer than nine. When it was all said and done, Shannon Sword's team won the second stanza by 15, 50-35.

Freshman wing Tajanee Wells led all scorers with 16 points in her collegiate debut. Her classmate Grigsby poured in 15 points (7-9 at the free throw line) and freshman lead guard Erica Huber stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, eight rebounds and eight assists to go with five steals. She turned the ball over just twice.

Rookie Laney Lewis didn't appear in the first half but gave the squad a big lift with nine points and six rebounds in nine minutes off the bench in the second period. Junior college transfer Emma Ricketts gave Sword another capable sub in the frontcourt and she chipped in nine points and three rebounds in 15 minutes of action.

Freshmen Delayne Seigla and Natalie Nickol each added four points and Nickol was a perfect four-for-four from the free throw line.

Junior guard Brianna Woods had seven points and four assists and senior forward Natalie Cook finished with 12 points and tied Huber for the team lead with eight boards.

Slippery Rock was led by 15 points from Alexas Brown while Jazmyne Frost and Aidan Geise each scored 12. The Rock shot just 31.9 percent (23-72) from the floor, almost 10 percentage points worse than Ursuline (28-67, 41.8 percent). SRU threw up 30 three-pointers and hit just five (16.7 percent) while UC was 5-16 (31.3 percent) from behind the arc, helped by Cook hitting both of her attempts.

Ursuline will host Tiffin University on Wednesday (Nov. 13) at 7:30 p.m. at Case Western Reserve University's Horsburgh Gymnasium in what will be the season opener for the Dragons.

Max Radigan will call the action live on the Ursuline College Sports Network and the Pizzazz on the Circle Live Stats will be provided free of charge.