MILLTOWN — Emma Brown scored 19 points, 16 of which came in the first half, as Wilmington Charter locked down defensively in a 40-32 win over Saint Mark’s on Dec. 16. The Force remained undefeated with the win, improving to 4-0.
Brown was on fire from the start. She had two early field goals, then added another after rebounding a missed runner by Catie Cole. The Force defense was stifling, clogging the passing lanes and keeping the Spartans to the outside. Two of Brown’s buckets were in transition after she had stolen a Saint Mark’s pass. The Spartans could not get anything to fall until Lauren McDonald’s three-point shot with 1:06 remaining. Those were the Spartans’ only points of the first. Brown had all 10 of Charter’s.
The lead grew to 14-3 before a Katie Lennon field goal and a three by Danielle DiDomenico cut the Charter lead to six. The Force rebounded, outscoring Saint Mark’s, 10-4, before halftime to take a 12-point lead into the break. Brown had six more in the second quarter, but just one field goal.
Brown opened the second half with an old-fashioned three-point play to extend the lead to 15, but the Spartans played solid defense of their own, and they kept the Charter lead around 10.
The Spartans held the Force to a single field goal in the fourth, a three-pointer by Danielle Kanse, but they were able to get closer than 10 points only twice. Keira Benoit hit a three-pointer at the buzzer for Saint Mark’s for the final margin.
Claire Stella added eight points for the Force, who play Polytech on Dec. 28 at 1:30 p.m. in the Viking Invitational.
Lennon led the Spartans with eight points; three others each scored five. Saint Mark’s (4-1) travels to Red Lion on Saturday for a 1 p.m. start.
All photos by Mike Lang.
