After weeks of anticipation, the Women’s Basketball season is underway for Marywood and boy, did they come out hot. The Pacers demolished the Penn College Wildcats 73-43.

After losing the tip, the Pacers offense started off slow, forcing Coach Jennifer Carleton to call a timeout, trailing 5-2. From there, the Pacers went on a 10-2 run to finish out the first quarter, up 12-7.

The second quarter was tightly fought, with the Pacers outscoring the Wildcats 16-13, taking a 28-20 lead into half time.

With a close game on their hands, Coach Carleton knew she needed to give her girls some motivation for the second half.

“We just emphasized the things we’ve talked about in the last three weeks in practice,” Coach Carleton said. “Doing the little things, moving the ball a little quicker, attacking the gaps a little bit more.”

The Pacers did everything and more of what Coach Carleton expected from her team, outsourcing the Wildcats 28-9 in the third quarter, leading 56-29.

The fourth quarter allowed the Pacers to debut a few newcomers to the team as they finished the job, routing the Wildcats 73-43.

The Pacers utilized their speed to their advantage, scoring 22 fast break points, much to the delight of Carleton.

“Our pace is always rebound, run, and go,” Carleton emphasized. “I’d rather play in transition than in the half-court anyday. Since day one, Oct. 15, we’ve done transition offense and transition defense everyday. We have a lot of great shooters, so for us to push, opposing teams have to worry about the outside, which extends defenses, and that gives us opportunities to get to the basket.”

Winning Game One of a season is always important and Carleton acknowledged that.

“I looked to the bench and said this is my fourth season and we haven’t won our opening game,” stated Carleton. “I think it’s good for our confidence. We’ve been working really hard and it sets a good tone.”

The Pacers shot 48% from the field, 26% from three, and a perfect 6-6 from the foul line. Marywood had four scorers in double-digits, with sophomore Abbey McGee leading the way with 16. Marywood crashed the boards extremely well, out rebounding the Wildcats by 44-3, with sophomore guard Olivia Ciullo leading the way with nine, including five off the offensive glass. Steals were another key to tonight’s game, as the Pacers tallied up twelve, including four Pacers having a pair each.

The Pacers travel to John Long Center on Tuesday, to face the University of Scranton at 6 p.m.

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