CHESTERTOWN — Washington’s women ran their win streak to three games in a row as they headed into the Thanksgiving break, taking a 16-15 lead on Karry Kelliher’s layup in the waning seconds of the opening quarter and coasting the rest of the way against the visitors from Gallaudet, 61-49, on Nov. 23.
The Shore cagers are 4-2 on the season with their Centennial Conference lid-lifter looming Wednesday at No. 17-ranked Johns Hopkins (4-2).
After a closely contested first frame with Gallaudet’s women, the Shore ladies scored eight of the first 10 points of the second quarter with contributions from four different players.
The home squad took its first double-digit lead of the afternoon at 34-24 on a Maggie Lawrence jumper with 1 minute, 29 seconds remaining in the half.
The locals led by as many as 13 points, 37-24, on a Kelliher three just 22 seconds later.
Gallaudet (2-6) ended the half on a run of five unanswered points to close to 37-29 at intermission.
Washington would lead by at least six points the rest of the way.
The locals took their largest lead at 52-38 on an Abby Meredith 3-pointer with 7:44 to play.
Meredith led all players with 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the floor, including 2-of-4 from outside the arc.
Also for the winners, Kaitlyn Boggs (six rebounds) contributed 14 points and Kelliher (seven assists, three blocks, three steals) added nine.
Rounding out the Shore ladies’ starting five, Kiersten Rose (six points) and Emma Robinson (four points) totaled nine and eight rebounds, respectively.
In 13 minutes off the bench, Lawrence scored eight points on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor.
Cam Lexow (seven rebounds) and Claire Tucker led Gallaudet with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
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In voting by opposing head coaches, Johns Hopkins edged three-time defending league champion Gettysburg for top billing in the Centennial Conference preseason poll. JHU earned seven first-place votes and 97 points.
Gettysburg picked up the other four first-place votes and tallied 94 points.
Dickinson (81 points) was projected to take third, followed by Ursinus (66) and Swarthmore (59) to round out the top five.
Muhlenberg and Washington finished in a tie for sixth with 50 points apiece.
Haverford (39), McDaniel (34), Franklin & Marshall (25) and Bryn Mawr (10) completed the voting.