IMMACULATA, Pa. – The Ursinus women's basketball team powered past Immaculata in a non-conference clash, 54-38, after the Bears doubled up the Mighty Macs with a strong fourth quarter of play.
Ursinus (7-4) controlled a consistent advantage the first three quarters but put an exclamation mark on their lead in the huge final frame. The Bears took a 35-29 edge into the last stanza after the Mighty Macs outscored the Bears, 9-6, in an offensive struggle of a third quarter.
The Bears then used a 17-3 fourth-quarter run to push their lead to 52-32, their largest lead of the game, with just two minutes to play.
Junior Lydia Konstanzer came up large for Ursinus. She scored 17 points and hauled in a career-high 18 rebounds, seven of which came on the offensive end. Her gaudy rebound total is the most in a game by a Bear since Lindsey Teuber recorded 21 rebounds in a 2012 contest.
Konstanzer didn't need much time to pick up her fifth double-double of the season. The strong post player achieved that by halftime when she had 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Sophomore Aliyah Stephens made up the other side of the two-headed monster for the Bears. Stephens scored 17 points on 4-of-6 shooting and 8-of-10 from the free throw line.
Both squads shot a hair below 30 percent but the Bears held huge advantages in several key categories to help secure the win. Ursinus was able to get to the charity stripe 30 times, converting 20 of their tries. The Mighty Macs went to the line just 12 times with seven makes.
Ursinus also outrebounded Immaculata, 48-31, on the night with 23 offensive boards compared to the Macs' 11.
Early on, the Bears jumped out to a 13-4 edge three-and-a-half minutes in after freshman Gabby Downs nailed a three-pointer from sophomore Maya Kornfeld.
The Mighty Macs closed the first quarter with a 5-0 run to cut the Ursinus lead to 15-11.
To close out a strong half, Konstanzer knocked down a jumper in the paint off an inbounds pass from sophomore Marisa Morano to give the Bears a 29-20 lead at halftime.
Kornfeld made a jumper in the closing minute of the low-scoring third quarter to give the Bears a 35-29 advantage.
Morano's jumper gave Ursinus a double-digit lead at 40-29 with 8:18 left, and Konstanzer logged five straight points before Stephens' 3-pointer made it 49-32 at the 3:20 mark.
Like the Bears, Immaculata (4-10) also had two double-figure scorers. Amber Ballinger scored 15 points and Theresa Kearney chipped in 11 to lead the Macs.
The Bears jump back into CC action when they host Franklin & Marshall on Saturday at 1 p.m.