Gettysburg, ranked 15th in the D3hoops.com preseason poll, used a 23-7 second quarter to build a 20-point halftime lead and defeat Eastern 78-42 in the team’s season opener.
Mackenzie Szlosek led the Bullets with a career-high 25 points, going 8-for-14 from the floor and 8-for-8 from the line. She also added five rebounds, two assists, and two steals in just 23 minutes. Shinya Lee chipped in eight points, 14 rebounds, and six blocked shots. Alayna Arnolie connected on 6 of 10 shots for 13 points, adding three rebounds, two assists, and a steal.
Kayla Worsley-Wooten made a 3-pointer to open the scoring and stake Eastern to a 3-0 lead just 32 seconds into the game. A second triple made it a 6-2 game. Trailing 8-4, Arnolie hit a long jumper to spark a 10-0 that put Gettysburg in front 14-8 midway through the opening period. The teams traded buckets the rest of the period and the Bullets took a 20-16 advantage through 10 minutes.• After Arnolie hit a driving layup and Worsley-Wooten responded with a triple to make it a 22-1 game just 70 seconds into the second quarter, Gettysburg outscored the Eagles 21-4 over the final eight minutes of the period to take a 43-23 lead into the break. Kimberly Hopkins hit one free throw with 7:55 on the clock and then the Bullets hit seven of their next ten field goals and went 6 of 9 from the line to break the game wide open Szlosek contributed nine of her 17 first-half points during the run. The Bullets scored the first 18 points of the third quarter to extend the lead to 61-23 with 2:59 showing. Szlosek had eight of those points. In total, the Bullets scored 28 straight points and held Eastern without a point for 10 minutes, 7 seconds, and without a field goal for 11 minutes, 40 seconds until Jeriyah Johnson got a friendly bounce on a pull-up with 2:29 showing in the third quarter. After a 23-7 second quarter, Gettysburg outscored its hosts 23-6 in the third quarter to take a 66-29 advantage to the final period. The lead grew to 40 for the first time on a Skylar Reale with 7:19 to play. Eastern scored eight straight points before Tatum Murray drained a triple with 3:17 remaining en route to the 36-point final margi
Kayla Worsley-Wooten led Eastern with 12 points, going 4 of 7 from 3-point range.
Gettysburg returns to action against Randolph-Macon on Saturday at 8 p.m. in the opening game of the Jean Beamer Tip-Off Classic hosted by Roanoke.
This story first appeared on the Gettysburg College website.