ST. MARY'S CITY, MD-The 12th ranked York College women's basketball squad rolled to their 20th straight win as the Green and White downed St. Mary's 75-60 in Capital Athletic Conference action on Saturday afternoon in St. Mary's City, MD.
In a year of records, the Spartans established a new school record with their 20th win, breaking last year's record of 19. The Spartans are now 20-1 overall and 13-0 in the CAC as they continue to march to a regular season conference championship. The loss drops the Seahawks to 7-14 overall and 5-8 in the conference.
The opening seven minutes of the game were back and forth as neither team could gain significant momentum. York fashioned a quick 6-0 spurt to take an 18-12 lead with 11:46 remaining in the half. The Seahawks answered, trimming the York advantage to a deuce. From there, the Spartan lead vacillated between two and eight points over the next seven minutes. York finally got the lead into double figures on a Keli Ward (Nottingham, Pa./Oxford) three-point play with 4:11 remaining in the half. Ward's play kicked off a 10-2 spurt that was capped by a Ward triple, pushing the York lead to a half-high of 16 points. The Spartans would settle for the 15-point halftime lead at 45-30.
The second 20 minutes of play saw the scrappy Seahawks hold the Spartans to just 37.9% shooting from the floor after York scorched the nets to the tune of 52.8% shooting in the first half.
The Seahawks made a run at the Spartans but York had an answer. St. Mary's trimmed York's lead to four the first time with a two-minute, 7-0 run early in the second half. The Spartans answered with an Amanda Andrews (Fallston, Md./Fallston) bucket but Allie Scott responded with a basket of her own to cut the York lead back down to four at 51-47 with 12:23 remaining. The Spartans then slowly started to pull away with a 12-2 run that covered over three minutes, pushing the York lead back to 14 at 63-49. York's lead would not fall below 11 the remainder of the game as the Spartans posted their 17th double-digit victory of the year.
The Spartans were led by sophomore April Sparkman (Walkersville, Md./Walkersville) as she established a new career-high with 24 points on 11-of-19 shooting from the floor. Sparkman drilled two three while she also pulled down nine rebounds and had two steals in 39 minutes of action. Ward continued her outstanding senior campaign with her 25th career double-double as she notched 18 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. The CAC assist leader also handed out six helpers in addition to a steal and a blocked shot. Ward was 6-for-12 from the floor, 1-for-3 from downtown and a crisp 5-for-5 from the charity stripe. Senior Chanel Perez (Biglerville, Pa./ Gettysburg) recorded her ninth career double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Perez, who will enter Thursday's McDaniel game needing just six points to reach 1,000 points for her career, was 7-for-10 from the floor while she also had four assists, three blocks and three steals in one of her best games of the season.
Tiarra Hurte led the Seahawks as the sophomore post player had her own double-double with 22 points and 13 rebounds. She was 10-for-19 from the floor and 2-for-5 from the free throw line. Scott was the other Hawk in double figures with 18 points while she also pulled down seven rebounds.
York finished the contest shooting 46.2% from the floor but just 25% from three. The Spartans went to the line 15 times, converting 11 of those chances for a 73.3% shooting percentage. The Green and White defense held the Seahawks to 37.7% shooting from the floor including just 2-of-9 from deep. St. Mary's went just 6-for-12 from the stripe in the game.
The Spartans out-rebounded St. Mary's 44-38 while they also had a 30-22 advantage in points in the paint. The Seahawks did hold a 20-12 advantage in second-chance points.
The Spartans put their win streak on the line on Thursday night as they travel to McDaniel College for their final non-conference contest of the year. Tip time in Westminster is set for 7:00 pm.

GAME BOX