Box Score The Aurora University women's basketball team opened both their home and Northern Athletics Conference schedules
Saturday afternoon against Rockford College. The Spartans gave the home fans something to cheer about as they came away with a 67-49 win.
AU used solid outside shooting to open up an 11 point lead after
Joree Green knocked down her third three of the first half with just under eight minutes to play. In addition to Green's three triples freshman
Bethany Dorrington knocked down two of her own. For the half the Spartans shot 46% from three-point range.
Despite the Spartan's hot shooting from beyond the arc the Regents managed to battle back within six points as the half came to a close. The late Rockford charge was led by Sherrell Woods who score the team's last six points of the half.
At the half AU led with a score of 34-28. Freshman guard
Ciara Marlow led the Spartans with 13 points and four rebounds in the half, while Rockford was led by three different players with seven points each.
The second half was a different story for the Spartans as their outside shooting cooled down. Rather
than looking for the three ball AU was forced to grind it out in the paint.
AU freshman
Marta Medina made a nice move down low to give the Spartans an 11 point lead just three minutes into the half. However, that would be the last bucket AU would score for nearly the next eight minutes as Rockford put together a 9-0 run to cut the lead down to two points midway through the half.
AU never relinquished the lead through as Marlow contributed six more points as well as an assist to allow the Spartans to pull away to a 14 points lead with 4:44 to play.
The Regents went to a full court press in order to get back into the game. After two quick turnovers led
to points for Rockford, AU Head Coach Ari Iventosch called a timeout in order to calm his young Spartan team.
The timeout worked as the Spartans were able break the press and wined down the clock for the remainder of the game. When the final buzzer sounded AU was victorious 67-49.
Marlow led all scorers with 20 points while Dorrington and Green chipped 13 and 12 points respectively. Dorrington led AU on the glass as well as she pulled down eight rebounds. Rockford was led by Woods in both categories as she finished with 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
The win improves the Spartans' record to 2-2 overall and 1-0 in the Northern Athletics Conference. The Spartans will travel to Wisconsin Lutheran on Wednesday
November 28 to take on Wisconsin Lutheran College. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 pm.
