HCC routs Harrisburg in battle of the birds

November 16, 2006|by JACK HILL III / Staff Correspondent

The Hawks were both teams' mascots, but the Hagerstown Community College women's basketball team easily won this battle of the birds Wednesday night, routing Harrisburg 78-24 at the HCC athletic complex.

HCC shined like its new, lighted press table, which was first used Wednesday.

HCC raised its record to 4-0, while Harrisburg (0-1) opened its season with a loss.

"We didn't know what to expect," HCC coach Marlys Palmer said. "We never played Harrisburg before. But this was only their first game. You can have trouble playing your first game away from home. They had trouble handling our press. We took the press off once we got the big lead."

HCC came into the game ranked in the top 10 in the nation in three statistical categories. HCC was fourth in defensive average at 41 points per game, ninth in offensive average at 85 points per game and ninth in free throw percentage at 70.4 percent.

Sophomore forward Marisa Elliot had 10 points and nine rebounds for HCC on Wednesday.

"We played hard defensively," Elliot said. "Defense wins games. Our offense is based off of our defense. We just took whatever their defense gave up. It's good to race out to a big lead in the beginning. It gives us confidence when we play hard in the beginning of the game. If we keep playing hard, then we can do good this season."

Reserve forward Latoya Buckner scored a game-high 18 points and point guard Teonna Jewell tallied 14 points, while Jamie Robinson collected nine rebounds and six steals and guard Sara Davidson added five steals and four assists for HCC. Shuashanna Faulkner, who is a 6-foot-3 reserve center, blocked five shots for HCC.

HCC outrebounded Harrisburg, 53-18. HCC also finished with team totals of 24 steals and 18 assists.

"It was a good team effort," Palmer said. "We did a good job defensively and on the boards. Everybody on the team has gotten a lot of playing time in every game this year. The good thing about having depth on your team is that everybody can help each other. I absolutely feel that I can put in any player at any time."

HCC outscored Harrisburg 31-2 during a time span of 11 minutes and 20 seconds to build a 39-9 advantage with 3:51 remaining in the first half. At that point in the game, Buckner already had 12 points and Jewell had eight points for HCC.

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