The Lady Cougars (18-7, 5-6 AMC) roared out to a 17-7 lead over the first six minutes as sophomore post Amanda Himes (left) scored seven quick points with freshman forward Alexis Harkins, sophomore forward Kellie Jokela, and senior wing Bethany Hughes adding three points apiece.

The Lady Bulldogs (6-17, 1-8 AMC) began to whittle away at the lead and pulled within 22-18 with 9:01 left in the first half. Dai’Tiara Brown scored seven points and Candice Crews scored the other four points to get Wilberforce back in the game.

At that point, MVNU went on a 20-4 run over the next six and a half minutes to build a comfortable 42-22 lead with 2:38 remaining before the break. Himes led the way with eight points, while Harkins tossed in six points.

Not to be outdone, the Lady Bulldogs used a 9-3 run of their own to close the gap to 45-31 on Brown’s layup just before the halftime buzzer.

Himes paced the Lady Cougars with 15 first-half points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field, while Harkins made all five of her field goal attempts for 13 points to go with seven rebounds. Fiely also dished out nine assists in the first half with just one turnover. MVNU shot 53.1 percent from the field (17-for-32), 36.4 percent from three-point range (4-for-11), and 58.3 percent from the free throw line (7-for-12). The Lady Cougars also held a 25-17 rebounding advantage.

Brown led Wilberforce with 16 points as she went 6-for-8 from the field. Crews also came off the bench with eight points. The Lady Bulldogs shot 34.3 percent from the field (12-for-35), 20.0 percent from three-point range (1-for-5), and 75.0 percent from the free throw line (6-for-8).

Back-to-back three-pointers by Fiely and sophomore guard Lauren Johnson to open the second half propelled MVNU back to a 51-31 lead with less than a minute gone by.

After Wilberforce pulled within 53-37 at the 15:57 mark, the Lady Cougars used a 22-8 run to take their biggest lead of the game 75-45 with 9:37 remaining on another trey by Fiely (right).

From there, it was just a matter of what the final score would be and how many assists Fiely would end up with. She tied the mark of 14 assists set previously by former MVNU standout Mia Dallas versus the University of Rio Grande on February 14, 1987, with a feed to senior post Melissa Mastrodonato at the 6:33 mark. She came out shortly after that as head coach Steve Gregory emptied his bench with the outcome in control as the Lady Cougars posted the 86-57 victory.

“I am very pleased that we got the win tonight over a very scrappy and athletic team in Wilberforce,” said Gregory. “We got off to a good start and got up early. Midway through the half, we got some easy transition baskets out of our fastbreak. We wanted to really wear them down and seize control of the game in the second half.”

“I thought that the game plan paid dividends and sure enough we got plenty of easy opportunities,” Gregory continued. “We were not as sharp as I would prefer us to be, though. Our transition game has got to be better. We want to be peaking at this time of the year.”

Himes led all scorers with 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field, while Harkins added 17 points and nine rebounds and went 5-for-7 from the field and 7-for-8 from the free throw line. Fiely posted a double-double with 12 points and 14 assists, and Hughes tossed in 11 points off the bench. Mastrodonato also contributed eight points and four blocked shots. MVNU shot 46.8 percent from the field (29-for-62), 40.0 percent from three-point range (8-for-20), and 71.4 percent from the free throw line (20-for-28).

“I am very proud of Rachel and all of her accomplishments,” said Gregory of his point guard who also holds the MVNU all-time assist mark of 566 and counting and is now just four assists shy of the school’s single-season mark of 165 set by Dallas in 1986-1987. “She was tremendous in finding her open teammates tonight and they did their part by finishing.”

Brown led Wilberforce with 22 points, while Crews finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. Mauryce Neal also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. The Lady Bulldogs shot 32.9 percent from the field (23-for-70), 22.2 percent from three-point range (2-for-9), and 64.3 percent from the free throw line (9-for-14).

The Lady Cougars will return to action on Friday when MVNU begins an important weekend of action with an AMC game against Houghton (N.Y.) College at 5:30 p.m. That game has been designated as Pink Zone Night and all proceeds from the game and the sale of the Pink Zone t-shirts will go towards breast cancer locally. T-shirts are available at the MVNU athletic department for $7 and will serve as the ticket for Friday’s game. For more information, call Gregory at (740) 392-6868 ext. 3105.