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GENEVA, N.Y. -- William Smith surged to a 15-0 lead over visiting Nazareth in the first 4:37 of the game and held off the Golden Flyers' rally to defeat Nazareth 60-55 in a non-conference women's basketball game. Junior
Kelly Dunne scored a team-high 17 points while freshman
Brittany Wilson added 10 points and a team-high six rebounds.
After trailing 26-11 with 8:06 to play in the first half, Nazareth scored 15 consecutive points to tie the game with 30 seconds to play. Dunne started the Golden Flyer rally by converting a three-point play. After Wilson added a layup, sophomore
Mary Holland connected with a three-pointer to cut the Herons' lead to seven points.
Dunne and junior
Rachel Pirozzolo each followed with a layup to cut William Smith's lead to three points. Freshman
Katie Kollar connected with a three-pointer to tie the game for Nazareth, however, the Herons' Mollie Danahy answered with a three-pointer to give William Smith a 29-26 lead at halftime.
William Smith began the second half strong as Erin Cunningham scored the first five points of the second half to give the Herons an eight point lead. Nazareth cut the Herons' lead to one basket twice as Dunne connected with a three-pointer with 14:33 to play to cut William Smith's lead to 34-31. About two minutes later, junior
Jamie Malloy connected on a three-pointer of her own to cut the Herons' lead to 36-35.
The Golden Flyers', however, were unable to get any closer as William Smith went on an 11-0 scoring run to take a 47-35 lead with 8:34 remaining. The Herons stretched their lead to 15 points, 52-37, with just under six minutes to play. Nazareth continued to battle and cut William Smith's lead to single digits, but were unable to complete its rally in the final minutes. Dunne's three-point basket in the closing seconds cut the final score to 60-55.
Kollar finished with eight points, while Pirozzolo added six points and Holland contributed five. Danahy scored a game-high 18 points for the Herons, followed by Cunningham with 11 points. William Smith held a 40-32 advanage in rebounds, but the Golden Flyers forced the Herons into making 28 turnovers.
Nazareth plays at Buffalo State December 2nd, before beginning its Empire 8 schedule at home against RIT December 6th.