Cooper's Well-Rounded Outing Lifts Women's Basketball

AURORA, N.Y. – Junior Ashida Cooper (Bensalem, Pa.) dished out a team-record 11 assists on Saturday as the Wells College women's basketball team posted an 87-70 victory against Bryn Athyn College. Wells moves to 9-4 overall and to 5-1 within the North Eastern Athletic Conference while the Lions (7-5, 5-2 NEAC) saw a four-game winning streak come to an end.

Cooper filled the stat sheet with 11 assists, breaking her own team record set earlier in the season against D'Youville on Nov. 18, 2015. She also scored a career-high 29 points and fell only two rebounds short of a triple-double, finishing with eight on the afternoon to match a career-best mark. On the day, she was 14-for-24 from the floor and also accumulated a team-high five takeaways.

Senior Holli Erkson (Cooperstown, N.Y.) recorded 19 points while freshman Shelby Medovich (Harpursville, N.Y.) tallied 18 points for a career-high of her own. Freshman Vielka Barber (Holly Springs, N.C.) gathered a team-best 10 rebounds for Wells, finishing with eight points, while classmate Carley Ryan (Middleburgh, N.Y.) continued her stellar play off the bench, finishing with nine points and five rebounds.

Erkson picked up five assists on Saturday, eclipsing 200 across her four-year career to become the third player in team history to achieve that milestone. Senior Lindsay Achzet (Johnstown, N.Y.) also reached 2,500 career minutes played with her effort against the Lions – Erkson trails Achzet by only 10 minutes played.

Wells trailed for only 11 seconds in Saturday's contest as Kristina Clark's layup with only 41 seconds expired in the contest was quickly countered by an Erkson layup to knot the score at two. Bryn Athyn used a Bianca Feliciano layup with 4:24 left in the first quarter to tie the game at 10, but Wells would not be tied again as a Medovich trey propelled the Express to a 13-10 lead with 4:24 to go in the opening stanza.

Both teams scored 23 points in the second quarter, but Wells' strong opening quarter granted the hosts a five-point lead, 44-39. In the opening 20 minutes alone, Wells was 5-for-8 from three-point range and shot 45% from the field (18-for-40) and committed only two turnovers as opposed to the Lions' 11 miscues.

The Express dominated the third quarter of play, using a 20-to-5 scoring run to open the second half. After a scoreless opening minute, a Cooper jumper with 8:53 left in the frame sparked an 11-to-1 scoring run that was highlighted by an Erkson three-point basket and back-to-back Cooper layups. Wells reached 60 points with 4:06 to go in the third as another Erkson three-pointer established a 16-point advantage.

Barber poured home a long-distance "three" with 7:59 to go in regulation, establishing a game-high 25 point lead against Bryn Athyn. The Lions would battle back, but the Express would once again establish a sizeable lead with a 7-0 scoring run in the final minutes to create a final score of 87-70.

Clark finished with an impressive 26 points and 17 rebounds while Feliciano poured home 16 points and registered a team-best six assists.

The Express return to action Sunday, Jan. 17 as they host Penn St.-Abington at 2 p.m. within the Farenthold Athletic Wing.