CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Xavier women’s team posted a 66-54 win over Northern Illinois Friday evening in its first game of the Holiday Inn Cavalier Classic hosted by University of Virginia. With the win, Xavier improves to an even 6-6 on the season while Northern Illinois falls to 4-7 overall.
The Musketeers were led by junior Shatyra Hawkes with 19 points, four rebounds and four assists while juniorAshley Wanninger added 10 points as the only other Musketeer in double figures. Senior Jessica Pachko grabbed five rebounds, scored six points and tallied one assist, steal and block.
Xavier out-rebounded Northern Illinois, 36-23, and went 17-for-20 from the charity stripe (85.0 percent) to NIU’s 7-for-11 (63.6 percent). For the game, the Musketeers shot 50.0 percent from the field and was 3-of-9 from long range.
NIU opened the second half out-scoring XU, 9-2, cutting the Musketeers’ lead to 10, 39-29. Xavier regrouped and used its own 11-2 run to go up 50-31 at the 9:08 mark, including four-straight points from Hawkes.
The lead was cut to eight, 56-48, after the Huskies held the Musketeers scoreless for just over four minutes. The drought was ended by an old-fashioned three-point play from Hawkes to put XU back up 11. Eight points was as close as the Huskies would get as the Musketeers claimed the 66-54, 12-point win.
The Musketeers jumped out to the 15-6 lead, led by sophomore Lakeisha Crouch with six points and capped by a layup from Pachko. Xavier stretched its advantage to as many as 19, 31-12, with just over four minutes left in the first frame after Glover sank two free throws. The Musketeers headed into the locker room with the 37-20 lead over the Huskies.
XU out-rebounded NIU 21-14 in the first 20 minutes and shot 44.4 percent to the Huskies’ 30.8 percent. The Musketeers were a perfect 11-for-11 from the line.
The Huskies were led by Natecia Augusta with 14 points and Ashley Sneed with 13 points. Jenna Thorp was the game’s leading rebounder with eight boards on the afternoon.
Xavier returns to action Saturday for its second game of the Cavalier Classic. The Musketeers will square off against the winner of Virginia-Norfolk State and will play at either 4:30 or 7:00 p.m.
Leave a Reply