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March 3, 2006

Gwynedd-Mercy 72, Richard Stockton 68
2006 NCAA Tournament First-Round Game
Griffins advance to second round, play tomorrow at 7 p.m.

Sophomore Karen Tierney dished out 11 assists and scored seven points. (GMC Sports Information)

Box Score

SCRANTON, PA - Gwynedd-Mercy held off Richard Stockton, 72-68, in a 2006 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament First-Round Game Friday evening on the campus of the University of Scranton. With the win, the Griffins move on to the second round where they will play the host Lady Royals, who tomorrow at 7 p.m.

Freshman Kristy Cramp (Pennington, N.J./Hopewell Valley) led all scorers with 16 points. Junior Jackie Dougherty (Roslyn, Pa./Abington) added 11 points, a game-high nine boards, and added six assists.

Gwynedd-Mercy (25-3) dominantly led 43-20 at the half before a 19-0 Osprey second-half run midway through the second period closed the gap to just 50-47 with 10 minutes to play. But the Griffins held strong, as sophomore Karen Tierney (Philadelphia, Pa./Kennedy-Kenrick) would feed Ashley Vandiver (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) for an open layup and then hit two free throws to give the Griffins a 70-62 edge with 35 seconds remaining.

But Stockton rallied one more time as back-to-back three-pointers made it a two-point game at 70-68 with just 10 ticks left. Tierney then iced the game hitting two more from the line to account for the final margin.

In the first half, both teams shook off early jitters and missed shots as the score was just 5-5 seven minutes into the game. But the Griffins got hot as Cramp's second trey of the game helped ignite a 17-7 run. GM hit seven first-half trifectas and pushed their lead to 34-14 with 2:39 left in the half on a longball from Tierney. Gwynedd hit an amazing 16-of-23 (69%) from the floor.

Freshman Kristy Cramp (1) hit four three-pointers in the win over Stockton. (GMC Sports Information)

Jessica Rainey netted 14 points for Richard Stockton (22-6), out of the New Jersey Athletic Conference who made their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance. Teammates Jenna Shenk and Danielle Walder each added 12 respectively. The Ospreys shot 27-of-64 (42%) for the game and were good on eight three-pointers.

Cramp sank four of the team's nine treys while Jillian Chiarantona (Abington, Pa./Gwynedd-Mercy Academy) drained two as the senior registered 12 points. For the game, GM hit 26-of-51 (51%) of its shots and outrebounded RC, 34-31.

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