Lady AMCATS Earn Hard Fought Win Over Pine Manor

Paxton, MA – Senior Kayla Cummings (Auburn, ME) and sophomore Katie Pryor (Whitinsville, MA), combined for 42 points in Anna Maria College's thrilling 67-65 victory over visiting Pine Manor College at the Fuller Athletics Center in today's non-conference women's basketball competition. The AMCATS' record is now 4-9 following this game, while the Gators' record fell to 3-8.

Cummings led all players in scoring with 22 points on 8-for-13 shooting and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe.  She also had 8 rebound, 3 assists, a block and a steal in 39 minutes of play. Pryor scored a career-high 20 points, shooting 4-for-6 from three point range, grabbed 5 rebounds and dished out two assists. Alison McCarthy (Lynn, MA) raked in 6 assists, 8 points, 7 boards and had 3 key blocks, while teammate Samantha Parker had a team-high nine boards off the bench.

The AMCATS' starting five came out of the gates producing. Pryor led the team in scoring for the half with 10 points. Senior guard Alison McCarthy, dished out a half high four assists and picked up four points and two blocks.  Cummings, a junior forward, shot a perfect 4-for-4 from the field, grabbed three boards, and two assists. Junior guard Taylor Walker (Winchendon, MA) led the team in rebounds, snagging five off the glass and also scoring 6 points.

The Gators' had some players step up to meet the challenge. Meagan Badohu (Boston, MA), a freshman guard for the Gators, seemed to be all over the court, notching 14 points, 9 from behind the arc, and grabbing 7 rebounds. Another freshman for the Gators, forward Alexis Lee (Akron, OH), helped her teammate out on the scoreboard by hitting two threes on her way to 9 points and three assists for the half.

At the end of the first half Pine Manor led Anna Maria 31-30.

Pine Manor's 3 point shooting cooled off in the second half, but they still opened up an early 6 point lead at 42-36 with 16 minutes to play. Natasia Franklin (Windsor, CT) built off of her first half success, pulling down rebounds and scoring hoops on her way to 19 points and 7 boards for the game. Badohu finished the game with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

The AMCATS battled back, first tying the game at 42-all with a 6-0 run and then built a 9 point lead at 55-46 with 8:01 to play.  Anna Maria used a balanced scoring attack with Cummings, Parker and McCarthy each pitching in 4 points in the run.

The Gators' responded with a run of their own and with a jumper by Badohu at 3:22 had taken a 61-60 lead, PMC pushed the lead to 65-60 with 2:49 to play, however Pine Manor wouldn't score again. Anna Maria's Parker and Cummings scored the games remaining seven points.

 With seven seconds left, Cummings was on the foul line with two shots and the game knotted at 65. She sank both, giving the AMCATS a two point lead. Pine Manor ran a play and got a shot off, but it fell short of its mark.

The Anna Maria Women's Basketball team will play their next game at home on Tuesday, January 15^th at 5:30 PM when they take on the visiting Raiders of Rivier University.