CARLISLE, Pa. – The duo of junior Lydia Konstanzer and sophomore Aliyah Stephens could not be stopped as the Bears blew by Dickinson in the third quarter on their way to a bounce-back 77-61 Centennial Conference victory.
Konstanzer and Stephens gave the Red Devils nightmares with 52 combined points on 20-of-29 shooting to help Ursinus (13-6, 10-4) rebound from Thursday's loss at Muhlenberg and keep pace with Haverford for third place in the league standings. All but nine of the Bears' 29 made field goals came from the sensational pairing.
Konstanzer matched her season best of 28 points in just 28 minutes of playing time. The post dominator poured in 13-of-19 shots from the floor in a variety of ways and put a resounding end to a two-game slump of nine combined points on 4-of-18 shooting.
Stephens registered her third double-double of the season with 24 points and 11 rebounds, just missing her career high by one point. The slashing guard went 10-of-14 from the free-throw line and hit 7-of-9 from the field.
The duo led Ursinus, which shot 55.8-percent for the game, to match last year's overall and conference win totals with six regular-season games to go.
The Bears delivered the biggest blow in the third quarter, hitting their first seven shots from the field as Ursinus went on to shoot 71.4-percent (10-of-14) in the quarter. Konstanzer collected three straight early buckets to elevate the Bears out of halftime. The visitors went from leading by six points (33-27) to up by twenty points (59-39) heading into the fourth quarter.
The Bears' margin pushed to as high as 27 points in the last frame.
The Bears and Red Devils were neck-and-neck early in the game until the crushing 26-12 third quarter. Stephens finished an acrobatic, reverse layup to give the Bears a 6-2 jump start in the opening minutes, but Dickinson went on a 14-4 run to take a 16-10 lead. Two baskets by Konstanzer brought the Bears closer at 16-14 after one quarter.
Freshman Maddy Sorokanych's turn-around hook shot gave the Bears the lead back at 20-19. Konstanzer went on a tear to close the half strongly. She plucked a pass and finished on the other end. After making a layup in the previous possession, Konstanzer grabbed her own miss then fed Stephens for an easy basket. Following the dime, Konstanzer's mid-range shot fake baited the Red Devils' defense before she finished a difficult shot through contact at the rim to give the Bears their largest lead of the first half (33-25) with 38 seconds to play.
Dickinson (9-10, 6-8) struggled from the field at 36.8 percent but received 21 points from reigning CC player of the week Kate Deutsch. Deutsch made five 3-pointers on the day.
The Bears shot 18-of-24 (75%) from the free-throw line and just 1-of-6 (16.7%) from 3-point range. The Red Devils shot 13-of-17 (76.5%) from the charity stripe and 6-of-21 (28.6%) from beyond the arc.
Dickinson edged out Ursinus in the turnover department (14-12), but the Bears owned the rebounding advantage (37-28) and churned out 13 second-chance points and 19 points off turnovers.
Ursinus has won 12 of last 16 matchups with the Red Devils.
The Bears close out their three-game road trip at Haverford Wednesday night. The Fords clipped the Bears 55-44 in the teams' CC opener on Nov. 20.