FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Rematch season got underway in the Crossroads League on Wednesday night and the University of Saint Francis added revenge season to the agenda in a 27-point win over Spring Arbor University at Hutzell Athletic Center.
USF won 73-46 holding an opponent under 50 points for the sixth time this season. SAU won the first meeting 70-57 in the CL opener for both teams on Nov. 20, 2018.
The Lady Cougars are 6-3 heading to Mt. Vernon Nazarene University on Saturday for a 10 a.m. clash, the tip time changed from 1 p.m. with a winter storm on the horizon. USF is tied for fourth place just two games back of CL-leading Marian University.
Lauren McBryar caught fire in the second half scoring 18 of her career-high 31 points and helping USF turn the rematch into a mismatch with the home Lady Cougars outscoring SAU 44-23 in the final 20 minutes, 30-9 in the fourth quarter. She connected on four second-half 3-pointers and finished with six, another career high for the redshirt sophomore. USF only led by six at halftime, 29-23.
After she buried her sixth 3-pointer of the game with 5:47 to play, USF led 62-39. At that point McBryar had scored half of USF’s points exiting soon after with 31 points. And at that point she was only eight points short of SAU’s point total.
Sidney Crowe was the only other Lady Cougar to reach double figures finishing with 13 points. Emma Applegate, Savannah Buck and Shayna Temple added seven points apiece in a game that had 12 Lady Cougars see playing time. Buck dished out a team-leading seven assists as well.
McBryar’s big night helped make up for USF leading scorer Kara Gerka, who only took four shot but went 2-for-2 at the free throw line. Gerka, playing in her second game since missing four consecutive games, scored 20 against Goshen on Saturday and entered the SAU game averaging 14.9 points a game. Gerka did outscore her sister Ali, a freshman at SAU, who didn’t score in eight-plus minutes.
Anne Marie Wright, who scored 28 points for SAU in the first meeting with USF, buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer and SAU led 14-8 after the first 10 minutes.
Applegate started the USF comeback with 9:46 to play in the second quarter, her basket starting a 15-3Â USF run to a 23-17 lead capped by a driving McBryar score from the paint with 5:34 to play in the first half. SAU cut the USF lead to four, 23-19, but Buck buried a 3-pointer and Crowe duplicated Buck’s 3-pointer on USF’s next possession for a 29-19 lead. McBryar scored 13 points in the first half.
USF’s lead was still just six, 43-37, entering the final 10 minutes. A McBryar 3-pointer, an Applegate three-point play and another McBryar 3-pointer at 8:39 changed every thing and opened up a 15-point bulge, 52-37, and USF added a 13-0 surge to expand its lead to 26, 65-39, after a Temple free throw. Temple later hit two more free throws for USF’s largest lead in the game, 28 points at 71-43.
