RICHMOND, Virginia – After dominating the first two rounds of the USCAA Division I Basketball Championship tournament Salem was slated for a championship game matchup against the Scots of Lyon College. The Tigers continued their hot streak in a 77-59 win.
After back-to-back games scoring seventy or more points Salem looked to keep that hot shooting going into the afternoon’s game. The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair between the two teams, almost like two boxers feeling each other out in the first round of a fight. Salem was led by Cassandra Smith who scored the first six points of the game for Salem. The Tigers did find some success from beyond the arc, nailing two shots from range on six attempts. With the opening ten minutes in the books, Salem had a 16-13 lead over the Scots.
The Tiger offense really took off in the second quarter. After losing the lead in the early goings of the period Salem turned it on for a 21-2 run over the next five minutes. The Tigers were led by Elena Pericic and Emerson Wells who combined for seventeen of the Tiger’s twenty-one points on the scoring spurt. The Scots were able to stop the bleeding near the end of the quarter, but the damage had been done. Heading into the half Salem had a comfy lead at 44-31.
Emerson Wells continued her hot shooting to get things started in the second half with a triple. The Scots responded with an 8-0 run that forced the Tigers to call a timeout after their lead had been cut to single digits. Salem regrouped and proceeded on a 10-1 run after the stoppage in play to balloon their lead back up to double digits. Salem capped off the third with another triple from Wells, her sixth of the game, to take a 62-44 lead into the fourth quarter.
It was all Tigers in the fourth quarter. Wells and Pericic scored fourteen of Salem’s fifteen fourth-quarter points en route to a 77-59 win to bring home the USCAA Championship. Emerson Wells led the Tigers with a career-high 26 points including 8 three-pointers and was rewarded with Tournament MVP honors. During the three-game tournament stretch, Wells averaged 19 ppg on 55.6% from three-point range.
SALEM STAT LEADERS
Points: Emerson Wells (26)
Rebounds: Elena Pericic, Anna Machytkova (10)
Assists: Elena Pericic, Liliani Krause, Carine Pinkney, Anna Machytkova (4)
Steals: Emerson Wells (3)
Blocks: Emerson Wells (3)