YORK, PA - Kristen Daly's (Harrisburg, Pa./Trinity) 26 points and 12 rebounds vaulted the York College women's basketball team to a dominating 88-53 victory over Wesley College in the first round of the Capital Athletic Conference tournament Tuesday night at the Grumbacher Sport & Fitness Center. The Spartans (19-7, 10-6 CAC) establish a new program high with 19 wins on the season and advance to face Mary Washington this Thursday in Fredericksburg, Va. Wesley's 2007-08 campaign comes to an end as the Wolverines finish with a 12-14 record including 8-8 in the CAC.

York would never trail in the contest as Daly scored the game's first two points on a lay-up 1:12 into the first half. After April Sparkman (Walkersville, Md./Walkersville) and Wesley's Cory Boyd traded triples, junior forward Chanel Perez (Biglerville, Pa./Gettysburg) canned a jumper in the lane and Sparkman added a lay-up to put the Spartans up six at 9-3 with 16:17 remaining in the half.

York's lead stretched out to eleven at 19-8 with 9:39 left in the frame before Wesley went on a slight run to pull the game to within six once again at 22-16 with 7:18 to play in the first.

Over the contest's first 12:42, the Spartans shot a meager 24% from the field but were able to maintain the lead with strong rebounding. The green and white secured 20 rebounds including eleven offensive boards over the first 12:42 alone, while Wesley only managed 12 boards over the same period.

After the Wolverines cut the lead to six and were looking to get back into the contest, head coach Betsy Witman calmed the game with a 30 second time-out. Witman would prove to be spot on with the time-out call, as the Spartans would then take a strangle hold on the game. Perez went on a 5-0 run herself to give her squad the 27-16 advantage a mere 48 seconds later after the time-out.

The York lead would then bulge to 17 by the half and the Spartans would take a commanding 47-30 lead into the locker room.

At the break, a trio of Spartans had reached double-digit scoring figures as Daly, Perez, and Sparkman cashed in 17, 13, and 11 respectively. However, rebounding was the key for the Spartans over the contest's first 20 minutes. York grabbed 31 caroms including 13 on the offensive glass while Wesley only corralled 14 misses. Despite the relatively cold shooting numbers from the Spartans, going 15-for-37 from the floor including 2-for-8 from deep, the rebounding advantage proved to be the first half's most revealing statistic. The free throw line was kind to the green and white as the Spartans shot 15-for-16 from the charity stripe.     

The second stanza proved much the same for the Spartans. Keli Ward (Nottingham, Pa./Oxford) knocked down a triple for her 1,007th point of her illustrious career to open the latter 20 minutes. Now up 50-30, the Spartan advantage would not fall below 20 for the rest of the game.

York's lead would expand to 30 on a Perez lay-up a mere 4:35 after Ward's three. An Amy Fry (Carlisle, Pa./Big Spring) free throw would push the lead to the greatest margin to 38 at 76-38 with 10:54 remaining.

The large lead allowed Witman to get her starters valuable rest as she made wholesale substitutions with 6:00 to go in the game. A Jaime Polan (York, Pa./West York) lay-up with 27 seconds to play put the final stamp on the contest and York added the 88-53 victory to their season total.

For the game, the Spartans shot 45.1% from the field on 32-for-71 shooting plus an excellent 20-for-25 from the charity stripe. The green and white controlled the boards tallying a season-high 59 rebounds, 20 of which came on the offensive end. These 20 offensive boards translated into 19 second-chance points.

Wesley only hit 29.2% of their attempts going 19-for-65 from the field. The CAC's leader in attempted threes proved why they held the honor rattling off 30 threes over the 40 minutes of play. The Wolverines were able to knock down ten triples en route to shooting 33.3% from deep. Wesley grabbed 33 rebounds but only managed nine on the offensive glass.     

Daly led all scorers with 26 while pulling-down 12 boards en route to her ninth double-double of the season. Perez also eclipsed the 20-point plateau registering 21 on the night. She was 6-for-10 from the field and a brilliant 9-for-10 from the charity stripe. Sparkman contributed eleven points and dished out a career-high five assists. Ward may have had the most impressive stat line of the evening just missing her first triple-double of the season. The junior scored eight points, grabbed ten rebounds, and handed-out nine while also chipping in three steals over 31 minutes.

Stephanie Bailey paced the Wesley offense with 15 points going 5-for-7 from beyond the arc. Cory Boyd was the other Wolverine in double-figures knocking down 12 points by shooting 3-for-7 from deep and 3-for-3 from the free throw line. Angie Owens proved to be the only deterrent to York's outstanding rebounding efforts as the six-foot freshman grabbed eleven caroms.

The Spartans next travel to Fredericksburg, Va. Thursday for a CAC semi-final date with the Mary Washington Eagles. Tip-time from UMW is scheduled for 6:00 pm.

BOX SCORE

Kristen Daly photo courtesy of Eric Linsley