Box Score
HONOLULU, Hawaii - The No. 2 Gannon women's basketball team opened play in the Oahu Classic with an 88-55 victory over the Chaminade Silverswords at McKinley High School on Thursday afternoon. The Lady Knights grabbed the lead just 25 seconds in and never looked back. With the win, the Lady Knights improve to 5-0 on the season, while the Silverswords fall to 0-3 overall.
The Lady Knights continue their win streak to open the season, marking their best start since the 2009-10 season when the team finished 37-1 overall. Edging the Silverswords by 33 points, the Lady Knights captured their widest margin of victory since a 101-48 win over visiting Ursuline on Nov. 12, 2012 at the Hammermill Center.
For the Lady Knights, ten different players found the scoring sheet including 42 bench points. The Lady Knights shot 47.1 percent (32-68) from the field for the afternoon, the team's second-best performance this season.
Redshirt junior Doriyon Glass (Boardman, Ohio / Boardman) led the Lady Knights with a season-high 13 points. Senior Jen Papich (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Fox Chapel) added 12 points including team-high seven rebounds. Junior Brittany Batts (Leesburg, Va. / Loudoun County) registered 11 points with a pair of steals. Glass and Batts each hit three shots from behind the arc. Junior Nettie Blake (Jersey City, N.J. / Marist) chipped in nine points, pulling in six rebounds. Redshirt freshman Lanise Saunders (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Taylor Allderdice) also finished with a career-high nine points with a blocked shot.
Chaminade was led by Carissa McBride with 12 points off the bench. Kennedi Akana finished with eight points before fouling out in the game with 12:25 remaining in regulation.
Muscling her way to the basket, Papich managed to draw a foul on her opening layup resulting in a three-point play and a Lady Knights' 3-0 lead just 25 seconds in. Before the opening minute ticked off the board, the Lady Knights were off to a 6-0 lead. The Silverswords were held scoreless in the first 3:20 of play.
The Silverswords were only able to pull within seven before sophomore Marisa Guyton (Lockport, N.Y. / Lockport) hit her first-career three-pointer to give the Lady Knights a 32-16 lead with 7:33 left in the opening half. A successful trip to the free-throw line by sophomore Morgan Neighbors (Westerville, Ohio / Westerville) gave the Lady Knights their largest lead of 17 points at the time, 36-19, with 4:27 remaining. With only 34 seconds left, the Silverswords' Shana Kawakami hit a three to close out the first-half with the Lady Knights in the lead, 42-28.
Despite the Silverswords only trailing by 14 points heading into the break, Gannon ran away with the game in the second half. The Lady Knights shot 52.9 percent (18-34) from the field, outscoring the Silverswords, 46-27, in the final stanza.
A three by Neighbors with 10:53 remaining began a Lady Knights' 8-0 run, resulting in the team's widest lead up to that point, 65-41. The Lady Knights pushed their lead to 30, 77-47, on an 11-3 run capped by a Glass three-pointer with 5:22 left. Guyton scored four points in the final minute of play including her second three of the evening to secure Gannon's 88-55 win.
The Lady Knights dominated the glass, holding a 45-15 edge in rebounds against the Silverswords. Off 14 Silverswords' turnovers, the Lady Knights generated 29 points.
Gannon will return to action in the Oahu Classic against the BYU-Hawaii Seasiders on Nov. 29 at 8 p.m. eastern standard time (EST).
