LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - The Gannon women's basketball team shot 57 percent from the field and rolled past Stonehill (Mass.) 87-70 Saturday afternoon in a battle of nationally-ranked teams during the second day of the Disney Tip-Off Classic. The Lady Knights are ranked 19th in NCAA Division II while the Skyhawks are ninth.

Gannon broke open a close game late in the first half. The Lady Knights snapped a 22-22 tie with a 15-4 run over the span of three minutes and seven seconds. Kim Vargas (Sterling, Va./Broad Run) and Carrie Nolan (Girard, Pa./Girard) ignited the run with back-to-back three-pointers.

After trading two baskets each, Kristina Freeman (Yonkers, N.Y./Pelham Memorial) made back-to-back shots and Caitlyn Lowe (Gettysburg, Pa./Gettysburg) capped the run with another triple.
Stonehill clawed back into the contest with eight consecutive points, before Gannon eventually went to halftime with a 44-39 lead.

Head coach Cleve Wright's team immediately bumped the lead to 52-39 with the first eight points of the second half. Back-to-back three-point plays from Brittany Tabron (Canton, Ohio/Canton Central Catholic) and Nolan pushed the lead to 13 points.

The Gannon lead remained in double digits the rest of the way and reached a game-high 18-point difference at 87-69 with 1:49 to play.

Nolan led five Lady Knights in double digits with a game-high 18 points, hitting 7-of-11 overall shots and 4-of-7 three-point attempts. Tabron recorded her second consecutive double-double and 19th of her career with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Vargas and Freeman added 14 and 11 points, respectively. Julie Kleber (Suffern, N.Y./Suffern) tallied 10 markers off the bench.

Gannon's starting five (Tiffany Crocker, Tabron, Vargas, Nolan, and Freeman) combined to record 65 points and 23 rebounds while shooting 58 percent (28-48) from the field.

Gannon shot 56.9 percent (37-65) from the field as a team, including a 64.3-percent (18-28) clip in the second half. The Lady Knights shot 52.4 percent (11-21) from three-point range and 25 percent (2-8) from the free throw line.

Kristen McWhirter and Emily Rousseau led Stonehill with 15 points each. Megan Methven and Kelsey Simonds added 13 and 11 points, respectively.

The Skyhawks shot 46.7 percent (28-60) from the floor, 46.7 percent (7-15) from behind the arc and 63.6 percent (7-11) from the charity stripe.

Gannon improved to 2-0 with Saturday's victory. Stonehill dropped to 1-1. The Lady Knights complete play at the Disney Tip-Off Classic Sunday, November 8 against Southern New Hampshire at 10 a.m.

For a complete box score from Saturday's Gannon-Stonehill women's basketball game, please click here.