Cooper's Big Day Lifts Women's Basketball vs. D’Youville

AURORA, N.Y. – Junior Ashida Cooper (Bensalem, Pa.) fell only three rebounds short of a triple-double, scoring 19 points and adding a single-game record 10 assists to help the Wells College women's basketball team to a 77-64 win against D'Youville on Wednesday. The Express move to 2-0 on the year while D'Youville drops to 0-3.

Cooper's 10 assists broke the previous team record of eight, tied by four different players. Senior Holli Erkson (Cooperstown, N.Y.) posted 20 points for Wells, dishing out four assists to help her team to its first-ever 2-0 start. She also poured home the 100th three-point basket of her career, the only player in team history to reach such a milestone.

Freshman Shelby Medovich (Harpursville, N.Y.) racked up 16 points and posted nine rebounds along with four steals. Sophomore Kamarie Maturine (Brooklyn, N.Y.) scored 12 points, rounding out the double-digit point scorers for the Express. Freshman Carley Ryan (Middleburgh, N.Y.) also had an impressive game for Wells, posting six rebounds, three assists and two steals in 21 minutes of play.

Wells led from start to finish against D'Youville, opening up an eight-point lead in the first 5:47 of play. With the score tied at four, a Medovich three-point basket propelled the Express to a lead that it would not relinquish. A trey by senior Jasmine Thomas (Las Vegas, Nev.) sparked a 10-0 run near the end of the second quarter, granting Wells a 41-30 lead with 1:39 left in the opening half.

The Spartans, however, concluded the first half on an eight-point run that cut the Express halftime lead to 41-37. A layup by Shannon Dougherty in the second half's first 56 minutes cut the deficit to two points, 41-39, but Maturine posted a layup and two free throw makes along with an Erkson layup to recreate a comfortable lead at 47-40.

Once again, D'Youville would rally from a large deficit, overcoming a 54-43 lead with 3:08 left in the third quarter with an 8-0 run to cut the score to 54-51. The game was officially put out of reach in the fourth quarter, however, as an 11-0 run saw Erkson score seven of her team's points with a "three" and two layups.

Danette Laguerre led D'Youville with 17 points while Dougherty finished the game with 14 to her credit. Jean-Ann Korona posted nine points, four steals and four assists while Sarah Marino dished out five assists, leading the team.

Wells returns to action this Friday, Nov. 20 as they head to Oswego State University for a 7:30 p.m. contest against the Lakers as part of the Max Ziel Tournament. The team returns to action Saturday, Nov. 21 as they will play an undetermined opponent at a time to be announced pending Friday's results.