MORRISTOWN, N.J. – Time was on the side of the Bison here Saturday as Gallaudet University escaped St. Joseph's Hall with a 59-56 win over Saint Elizabeth University (SEU) in a key United East conference game.
The win locks up a playoff berth for Gallaudet (12-9, 9-3 United East) into the United East tournament that gets underway in two and a half weeks.
The Bison led the Eagles by 13 points early in the fourth quarter before Saint Elizabeth went on a run and narrowed the GU lead down to three points with just under two minutes to play.
SEU (12-9, 8-4 United East) missed its final five shots as neither team scored over the final 1:50 in the game. By virtue of other teams losing on Saturday the Eagles also clinched a playoff berth into the United East tournament.
GU scored the first basket of the game before SEU drained a 3-pointer to take a brief 3-2 lead to begin the game. The Bison scored moments later and led for the rest of the game. Gallaudet held a 16-13 advantage after the opening quarter and outscored the Eagles 22-14 in the second quarter to take a 38-27 lead into halftime.
The Eagles made up ground in the fourth quarter as they doubled up the Bison 18-9 but could not score in the closing minutes.
Gallaudet had two players post up double-doubles led by senior guard
Raj Guettler (Frederick, Md.) with 12 points and 11 rebounds followed by first-year forward
Mackenzie Schirg (Factoryville, Pa.) with 10 points and 13 rebounds (12 defensive).
The other Bison in double digits included senior guard
Crystal Salit (Boyds, Md.) with 10 points and seven boards off the bench. Junior center
Hannah Puent (Indianapolis, Ind.) ripped down 10 rebounds in the win.
Sophomore guard
Cam Lexow (Abington, Pa.) finished with eight points, eight boards, two blocks and two steals. Lexow, Schirg and senior guard
Claire Ruiz-Tucker (Frederick, Md.) all finished with two blocks each. Ruiz-Tucker chipped in six points, six rebounds and three assists.
Saint Elizabeth was led by Ahjionae Cobb's 19-point game and six rebounds as she made three 3-pointers. Mya Davis matched Cobb with three 3-pointers and concluded the contest with 16 points.
BISON TRACKS
- Guettler and Lexow surpassed 900 and 700 career points, respectively, with their point totals today
- Gallaudet finished with 65 rebounds, the second most this season
- The two teams combined to make 12 3-pointers, eight total for the Eagles
- GU has won six straight against the Eagles
- This was Gallaudet's first appearance at St. Joseph's Hall since Jan. 9, 2019
UP NEXT
Gallaudet returns home to host its final two regular-season games in the Field House. The Bison will welcome Penn St.-Berks (2-17, 1-11 United East) on Wednesday, Feb. 5, at 5 p.m. in a conference game. GU won the earlier meeting in Reading, Pa., last month (Jan. 8) against the Nittany Lions by the score of 87-61.