COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus Women's Basketball team used a big second half to pull away from Bryn Mawr for a 74-39 victory on Wednesday night at Helfferich Hall.
With the win, the Bears improved to 6-9 overall and 3-7 in Centennial Conference action. Meanwhile, the Owls fell to 3-11 overall and 0-9 in conference play.
Sophomore Chinwe Irondi led the Bears with a game-high 24 points on a near perfect shooting night at 12-of-13 from the field. Irondi added six rebounds, three assists, and five steals as well. Junior Natalie Mehl recorded 15 points behind five three-pointers while senior Margrett Brown added nine points, rebounds, and two assists.
Irondi got things going for the Bears with a fast break layup just three seconds after winning the opening tip-off to put Ursinus up 2-0. However, the Owls hung with the Bears early as they traded the lead six times in the opening quarter. Ursinus was unable to get a lead by more than three points in the first quarter and ended up trailing the Owls 18-16 after the first quarter. Bryn Mawr shot 63.6 percent (7-of-11) from the field in the first quarter and used a three-pointer with five seconds left to take the advantage into the second quarter.
Bryn Mawr scored the first two points of the second quarter to go up 20-16, but the lead did not last long as Mehl ripped three consecutive three-pointers to give the Bears a 25-20 lead at the 8:05-mark. Ursinus began to stretch its lead out for the first time in the contest as they built their advantage to 11 points on two occasions in the second quarter. Irondi scored the final points of the half for the Bears with 23 seconds left on spinning layup and put Ursinus up 36-25 at the half.
After each team got a basket to open the second half, the Bears used a 15-4 run to extend their lead to 53-30 at the 2:21-mark, extending their advantage over 20 points for the first time in the contest. Brown scored seven of the last 10 points of the quarter for Ursinus as the Bears limited the Owls to shoot just 23.1 percent in the third quarter and forced seven turnovers.
The Bears put the finishing touches on the win with a 13-1 run to open the fourth quarter and built their lead to as many as 39 points by the end of the contest. Bryn Mawr did not make a field goal until the 39-second mark of the fourth quarter.
The Bears shot 44.6% (29-65) from the field and 40.0% (10-25) from three-point range while shooting 100% (6-6) from the charity stripe. Ursinus held a 38-37 edge in rebounds and a 22-9 advantage in forced turnovers. Hannah Binder led the Owls with 12 points and five rebounds, while teammate Sydney Collins added 11 points and four rebounds.
The Bears will return to action on Saturday as they host McDaniel College for a Centennial Conference matchup starting at 3 p.m.
