Long road trip for Quakers begins at Allegheny

For Immediate Release:
Feb. 3, 2006

MEADVILLE, Pa. — Despite having four players in double figures Friday night, the Earlham College women’s basketball team couldn’t get past one of the top squads in the North Coast Athletic Conference as Allegheny College defeated the Quakers 88-74.

Earlham coach Liana Coutts is pleased with her young team’s progress. “It was another team effort, which was similar to what we did against Ohio Wesleyan (on Tuesday),” she said. “We played hard and with mental toughness. I’m real proud of how this team is coming together. We need to continue to work on rebounding and get our turnovers down.”

First-year Tasha Merrill (Cedar Grove, IN/Franklin County) led the Quakers with 18 points and eight rebounds.

Sophomore Samantha Lurie (Lansing, MI/J.W. Sexton) made the most of her chance to start with a career-high 16 points, while adding four assists. Lurie replaced Earlham’s leading scorer first-year Janee’ Covington (Indianapolis, IN/Arlington), who was ill.

Junior Guin Summerton (Williams, IN/Shoals) tossed in 14 points with three assists. Sophomore Chelsea Caywood (Richmond, IN/Richmond) had 10 points and five rebounds. Senior Lauren Herrmann (Bloomington, IN/North) came off the bench to contribute eight points, six assists and five rebounds.

Allegheny (14-7, 10-2) began the contest with an 11-1 advantage with 16:33 left in the first half. By intermission, the Gators led 40-26.

The Gators eventually led by 23 points twice in the second half with the last coming at the 14:46 mark when they were in front 57-34.

Earlham got back into the game with 14 straight points. Lurie ended the rally with a basket to make it 57-48 with 10:24 remaining. The Quakers couldn’t get any closer after that score.

Earlham (4-17, 3-9) doesn’t get a lot of time to rest as the Quakers are back in action Saturday at Hiram College. The NCAC game is at 2 p.m. Box score.