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UD women’s basketball defeats UNC Wilmington

Tiara Malcolm
9:21 a.m., Jan. 5, 2004--The University of Delaware women’s basketball team continued its hot start to the 2003-04 season with a 57-56 victory over the University of North Carolina Wilmington on the road Sunday afternoon.

In winning their Colonial Athletic Association opener, the Fightin’ Blue Hens raised their record to 9-1 overall and 1-0 in conference. It was UD’s ninth straight victory in what has been the best start in school history.

UD will remain on the road with a game at the College of William and Mary at 7 p.m., Friday, Jan. 9. The Hens will return to the Bob Carpenter Sports/Convocation Center to face perennial power Old Dominion University at 7 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 11.

In Sunday’s victory, UD’s Tiara Malcom scored a team-high 20 points, including the basket that put the Hens up for good and two free throws with 12 seconds to clinch the win.

UD held UNC Wilmington to a season-low 14 first-half points and held a commanding 42-23 edge in rebounding.

UD’s Julie Sailer added 12 points, and Tracy Howell matched a career-high with 11 rebounds and added seven points.

UNC Wilmington, which was picked No. 2 in the CAA pre-season coaches poll, fell to 5-5 overall and 0-1 in conference despite 22 points from Cherie Lea. Denise Lawrence came off the bench to add 11 points, and guard Jennifer Kapper added 10 points before fouling out in the final seconds.

Malcom, a second-team All-CAA forward last season and the team's leading scorer at 13.6 points per game, scored 13 of her points in the second half and also finished with four rebounds, three assists and three blocks. She reached 20 points for the third time this season and for the fifth time in her career.

Malcom, who had scored just 13 total points in the last two games in wins over Loyola and Manhattan, has now scored in double figures in 34 of her last 40 games.

UD, playing for the first time since a 63-42 win over Manhattan on Dec. 22, and UNC Wilmington both looked sluggish in the first 20 minutes as the Hens took a 19-14 lead at intermission. The Hens hit on just nine of 23 shots from the field (.391) and committed 11 turnovers while the Seahawks went five of 19 (.263) and turned the ball over eight times in the half.

UD, which won its fourth straight conference opener and improved to 31-6 all-time in CAA regular season action, came out quickly in the second half to build an 11-point lead as Sailer hit a jumper, Liz Hayes scored on a lay-up and Malcom drained two free throws for a 25-14 lead in just over two minutes of play.

UNC Wilmington battled back as Lea hit two free throws with 5:59 left and followed with a lay-up 38 seconds later and Lawrence nailed a three-pointer at the 4:47 mark to tie the game at 40-40.

But Malcom and Howell each followed with conventional three-point plays for a 46-40 lead with 3:35 remaining. UNC Wilmington threatened several times, cutting the Hen lead to just two points three times, but could never forge ahead.

Kapper hit a lay-up with 21 seconds left to cut the lead to 52-50, but Hayes came back with two free throws for UD four seconds later. The Seahawks once again cut the lead to two at 54-52 with 14 seconds remaining on two free throws by Lawrence, but the Hens again answered with a free throw by Sailer.

Kapper's final point, a free throw one second later, cut the lead to two again but Malcom answered with two free throws of her own with 12 seconds left to secure the victory.

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