Girls Basketball: Elizabeth Nye leads Mother McAuley past St Joseph

Updated: December 8, 2011 9:49PM

Elizabeth Nye has never shot better from the floor for a single quarter and a 28-foot three-pointer at the buzzer to end the first half provided an extra thrill for the 5-foot-5 guard.

Nye scored 13 points in the second quarter and had a career-high 20 points to lead host Mother McAuley Thursday night to a 60-49 upset win over No. 20 St. Joseph. The Macs couldn’t think of a better way to start off its GCAC Red schedule by opening an 18-point lead early in the second half.

St. Joseph (6-2, 1-1) rallied, and even came within three points after Arriel Anderson’s layup in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough. Leading scorer Briya Wilborn fouled out with 4:43 remaining in the fourth quarter to end a potential Chargers comeback.

“My shots started to fall pretty much tonight,” Nye said. “I got some cuts off the screen and we passed the ball very well. I knew that if we stayed together, the team would not give up [at the end].”

Tiffany Fortune (seven rebounds) scored eight of her 10 points in the first quarter to spark the Macs (5-4, 1-0). McAuley ended the first quarter with an 8-2 run and then started the second quarter with a 12-3 run. The Macs led 26-11 with 5:09 remaining in the second quarter and took a 31-16 lead at halftime on Nye’s three-pointer beyond NBA range, which bounced off the backboard a few seconds before the buzzer.

The Chargers comeback in the second half started after Susie Durkin opened the third quarter with a three-pointer to give the Macs their biggest lead of 18 points. St. Joseph then went on a 14-2 run. McAuley led 9-1 in third quarter turnovers.

“We didn’t play defense. I have to give them credit. They took it right to us in the first half,” St. Joseph coach Jim Maley said. “They ran on us. They took the ball to the basket on us. We were in a big hole and expended so much energy that we ran out of gas.”

Anderson led the Chargers with 13 points while Wilborn added 11. Donna Koerber, one of St. Joseph’s leading scorers, missed her first 10 shots in the game and finished with nine points on 2-of-14 shooting.

Alyssa Siwek scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half to spark McAuley, which handed the Chargers their first loss since a 58-54 defeat to Walther Lutheran Nov. 19 on the season-opening Willowbrook tournament. When the Chargers came within 42-39 with 6:29 remaining in the game, Siwek connected on her only three-pointer to give the Macs momentum to keep its lead to end the game.

“They went hard every second of the game and we went hard for one half,” Maley said.

McAuley coach Karen Ade warned her team that the Chargers would rally in the second half.

“It was a huge win. I told them this would set the tone right now,” Ade said. “There are not a lot of people who think we can do anything in the conference.”

“They are a really, really good team,” Nye said. “It was nice for us to get a win. Hopefully we can beat St. Ignatius on Saturday.”

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