BUFFALO, NY - The Villa Lady Vikings couldn't have scripted a better start to the season. They jumped out to a 15-2 lead at the end of the first quarter and extended that lead through each of the next three quarters as they took down Central Pennsylvania College 76-31 on Friday, October 30th at the Villa Athletic Center.
"The girls played really hard," Villa head coach
Al Monaco said. "We were able to force them into quite a few turnovers and we converted our chances off of them. We'll continue to build off of this."
In each team's first game of the season, and first game of the Hart Hotels Tip Off Classic, the Lady Vikings started fast and couldn't be cooled down. Four players scored in double figures as junior
Magan Campbell (Buffalo, NY/Erie Community) led all scorers with 20. She was 9-of-16 from the floor and added five steals.
The Villa defense was stifling, forcing a whopping 44 turnovers and coming up with 32 steals. All seven Lady Vikings recorded at least two steals while freshmen
Shaquana Owens (Buffalo, NY/Tapestry) and
Naomi Walker (Buffalo, NY/McKinley) each recorded six.
The Lady Vikings led 38-8 at halftime, forcing the Knights to shoot just 13.6 percent. The held Central Penn to 22.6 percent shooting for the game and held them without a three point make.
Villa used a 20-2 run in the first half to put the pressure on early. Campbell used a pump fake at the free throw line to get space before hitting on a 13-foot jumper while being fouled. After knocking down the free throw, junior
Jayvonna Kincannon (Buffalo, NY/McKinley) came up with a steal which resulted in a made jumper by Campbell. She then capped the run with another bucket, this time on the fast-break after her own steal.
Owens finished with a double-double, scoring 14 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. She also added five assists to go along with her six steals. Junior
Tia Onipede (Buffalo, NY/Erie Community) scored 16 points while Walker finished with a double-double as well, adding 10 points and 11 rebounds. She also added six assists.
Kincannon finished with nine points and four steals and the combination of
Aaliyah Fulton (Buffalo, NY/Tapestry) and
Lajanai Thomas (Kenosha, Wi/Burgers) had seven points, six rebounds, and nine steals off the bench.
Nicole Schmidhamer led Central Penn with 12 points and also added a game-high 19 rebounds to go along with three blocks.
UP NEXT: 10/31 vs. SUNY Delhi @ 6 PM
GAME NOTES: Villa never trailed in the game, and led for 38:12... Villa scored 26 points in the paint and had 32 points off of turnovers... Villa held the Knights bench scoreless... All seven players fot Villa recorded at least two points, rebounds, and steals.
