Army women's basketball takeaways: Knights use deep ball to sink Emmanuel
WEST POINT – A sure-fire way to spark any offense is hitting the 3-ball.
Army averaged seven made threes per game last season, but opened the new campaign by tying a school record with 15 as the Black Knights beat Emmanuel 77-58 on Monday evening.
“It was definitely a good way to start the season,’’ said senior captain Sabria Hunter.
“We've been putting in a lot of work in this offseason, on the court, off the court,’’ said freshman guard Reese Ericson. “So finally having it all come together was really nice to see.’’
Army dropped in 45 points beyond the arc, 20 from inside and 12 more from the foul line. Still, coach Missy Traversi would like to see a closer inside-outside balance, utilizing all-league forward Hunter a bit more.
Hunter managed a brilliant stat line: six-for-nine shooting, 14 rebounds, 18 points, four steals and three assists.
“She really did it all and that's what she has to do,’’ Traversi said. “She has to impose her will and I thought she was tremendous tonight.’’
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The long ball was flying, though: 12 attempts in each of the first two quarters and 10 in each of the last two. Former Oregon club teammates and freshmen Ericson and Charlotte Richman had breakout efforts of 18 and nine points, respectively. Ericson sank four threes, Richman three, junior Lauren Lithgow five and freshman Julianna Laguna two.
“I like how free we were in terms of shooting from behind the arc,’’ Traversi said. “I thought we let the ball fly and that's a big part of our offense.’’
Army led by only one, 16-15, after the first quarter but moved out to a 38-25 lead by half. The Black Knights closed out the Saints 20-10 in the final quarter.
“I thought we had good energy at times,’’ Richman said. “We came out a little slow in the first quarter. … Just holding them to 10 points in the fourth quarter I thought we like really picked it up.’’
The sparse crowd was quieted when Army senior forward Kamryn Hall went down with an apparent knee injury in the second half. She was helped off the court, trying not to use the leg, and went right to the training area. Hall missed the entire 2020-21 season to injury.
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Emmanuel got 10 points from Yannie Chan, Kiera Eubanks and Angelina Giordano. The Saints shot 34.5 percent from the field.
Army travels to Binghamton on Thursday and Texas A&M on Sunday.
kmcmillan@th-record.com
Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Army women's basketball: Patriot League victory over Emmanuel
