AMCATS Beaten by Wildcats

PAXTON, Mass – Tuesday night the AMCATS hosted the Johnson & Wales Wildcats in Paxton. Though the visitors were down to seven players at tip-off they found a way to win their 10^th GNAC game over AMC, 79-57.

For the AMCATS, senior guard Kristina Russo (South Windsor, Conn) led the team in scoring with 19 points. She also pulled down six rebounds. Coming off the bench to record a double-double was senior guard Maritza Gustave (Fall River, Mass), scoring 11 and grabbing a game-high 11 caroms. Freshman guard Franny Hammond (Worcester, Mass) chimed in with a solid score line of eight points, six rebounds and eight assists. Starters, junior center Shannon Hofmiller (Oxford, Conn) and senior guard Kayla Odegaard (Milton, Mass) each scored six points while pulling down six and five boards respectively.

The Wildcats were led by their leading scorer for the season, senior guard Raquell Pederzani (Coventry, R.I.), as she scored 34 on the night on 14-of-19 shooting from the field and was four-for-six from beyond the arch. Also in double-digits for the Wildcats were sophomore guard Britney Gallagher (New City, N.Y.) and senior guard Sarah Duryea (Queens, N.Y.) who scored 11 and 10 points respectively. The leading rebounder for JWU was senior guard Kristen Habbel (Phoenixville, PA) with nine boards.

Though the AMCATS would lead for a time in the first period, the Wildcats would take the lead back at the 3:36 mark of the first period and never look back. At the end of the first period the Wildcats had a four-points, 17-13 lead over their hosts.

In the second, both teams would record their best scoring efforts of the game. The Wildcats scoring 24, the AMCATS scoring 16. This game the Wildcats a 12-point, 41-29 advantage going in to the half.

Coming out of the half- time break, the Wildcats went on a 6-0 run to open the third quarter and the AMCATS couldn't get a shot to fall, only scoring a total of 12 points to JWU's 21 in the period. The Wildcats watched their lead grow and went in to the final 10 minutes up, 62-41.

The fourth quarter was more of the same for Johnson & Wales, outscoring the AMCATS once again but, this time only by one. Though poor did come from the JWU side of things on offense, the AMCATS weren't able to answer and the visitors walked away with the victory, 79-57.

Up next for the AMCATS, they will host Rivier University on Saturday, February 10^th at 12pm. It is also senior day for the Women's Basketball team.