The Chestnut Hill College women's basketball team held Mercy College to just 39 points as they cruised to a 58-39 win Saturday afternoon at Sorgenti Arena.

The Griffins improve to 7-3 overall while the Mavericks drop to 3-6.  The 39 points was the fewest allowed by the Griffins in a game this season.
Chestnut Hill's defense also limited the Mavericks to just 28.8% shooting on the afternoon (15-52), the second time in three games that The Griffins held an opponent under 30% shooting.

Bri Hewlett led all scorers with 14 points (4-5 3 pt. FG, 2-2 FT) while Cassie Sebold added 10.  Emily Sekerak had eight points (4-6 FG) and grabbed seven rebounds in 18 minutes of action, both career highs for the freshman forward. Emily Chmiel added six points and grabbed a team high eight rebounds.  Lindsey Lane also had six points.  Abbey Spratt led the team with four assists.

Sebold and Hewlett opened the game with back-to-back three-point baskets and Lane added a free throw before the Mavericks got on the board at the 6:42 mark.  Mercy cut the lead to two late in the quarter but a Sekerak layup pushed the lead back up to four 16-12 heading into the second quarter. Both teams combined for just ten points in the second quarter (5 apiece) as the Griffins still led by four 21-17 heading into the locker-room at halftime. 

The third quarter was all Chestnut Hill as they outscored the Mavericks 26-12 to take a commanding 18 point lead 47-29 heading into the final ten minutes of action.  Leading by six at the 7:57 mark, the Griffins used a 12-4 spurt to push the lead to 14, 40-26 following Hewlett's third three point basket with 2:33 left.  Sekerak's layup with just under a minute remaining gave the Griffins a 20-point lead 47-27 before Mercy's Taysha Bender added a basket to cut the lead back to 18 heading into the fourth.

Layups from the two Morgan's (Morgan Orloski and Morgan Sterner) to open the fourth quarter, followed by two free throws by Hewlett gave the Griffins their largest lead of the game at 53-31 with 6:16 left.  The Griffins' lead oscillated the rest of the way between 18 and 21 the rest of the way with baskets by Amber Washington (layup) and Trinity Brittingham (three-pointer) rounding out the scoring as the Griffins secured their fourth win in their last five games.

Taysha Bender led the Mavericks with ten points. Kellie Nudd added eight while Maria Tedesco chipped in seven.  Brianna Lee paced Mercy with seven rebounds.

While the Griffins held the Mavericks to season lows in both points and field goal percentage, they were shooting just 32.8% from the field (22-67).  The Griffins held a sizable advantage on the board, outrebounding the Mavericks 48-39 while also committing five fewer turners (16-21).  The Griffins bench outscored the Mavericks bench 23-8.

The Griffins are off for final exams until December 19 when they travel to Connecticut to take on the University of New Haven.  Tip off is set for 1:30 p.m.