Gimenez’s historic day goes down as a success as the Skyhawks cruise past the Knights

WEST POINT, Ga. (Dec. 10, 2022)- The Point University women's basketball team returned to action at the West Point Park Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon for an Appalachian Athletic Conference showdown against St. Andrew's University and successfully came out with the win with a final score of 75-41. 

Mirial Cannon started the Skyhawks by scoring the first two baskets to put Point ahead. Sheyvonne Owens and Mataea Owens followed with strong takes to the paint to help the Skyhawks start with an 8-2 lead. On the next offensive possession, Mirial Cannon got the golden assist to Marta Gimenez as she converted on an and-one, which resulted in Gimenez scoring her 1,000th career bucket. The Skyhawks continued to rally on a historic day as Owens scored another layup in the paint, followed by Gimenez adding to her resume with another basket. With the Skyhawks ahead by 10, The Knights started to pick up steam by knocking down a triple and converting on two free throws to bring Point's lead to single digits. Following the scored layup from Mataea Boyd, the Knights knocked down another three-pointer, followed by a layup from Chelsey Grant to now trail 16-14. Ky'Leo Worriels entered the game with a quick start as she scored the and-one layup and converted the free throw. Mataea Boyd cashed in on a three-pointer by hitting nothing but net to add to the lead for the Skyhawks as they looked to cool down St. Andrew's. The Knights continued to take their opportunities in the paint and added made free throws to now trail by four. As the quarter ended, Ananda Hughley started her fiery day with a layup to put the Skyhawks ahead 24-18. 

Jasmine Griggs made her return to the court worth it as she started the second quarter with a three-pointer. Point pushed their lead back to double digits as Marta Gimenez, and Sheyvonne Owens converted on layups to bring them to 32-20. The Skyhawks continued to find their rhythm as Mataea Boyd continued to be aggressive on the offensive end with strong takes to the paint while finishing through contact. As the half came to a close, Ky'Leo Worriels scored the last bucket for the Skyhawks to bring their lead to 39-22 at the half. 

Ashley Starks started the third quarter for St. Andrew's first bucket with a layup, followed by a triple from Makayla Salliey to bring their deficit to 12. Point remained calm as Marta Gimenez added another layup to halt any runs that the Knights planned to go on. Mataea Boyd knocked down the first three-pointer of the second half for Point, and Jasmine Griggs followed with a strong take to the lane on the next possession. Griggs continued to show why her presence on the court is known as she scored the and-one layup and converted the free throw to push the Skyhawks' lead to 49-29. Ananda Hughley started to catch fire as she crashed the boards for an offensive rebound, followed by a layup. Hughley knocked down the three-pointer on the next offensive possession, which gave the Skyhawks momentum going into the final period. 

The start of the fourth quarter was lights out for Point as the Skyhawks started with the first three made layups by Sheyvonne Owens, Ananda Hughley, and Destinee Ellison. Hughley continued to dominate in the paint as she tallied another layup to push the Skyhawks' lead to 62-31. Kyra Hart entered the game and showed why she is the spark plug for Point as she knocked down her first three of the quarter. Hughley did not shy away from the pressure in the paint from the Knights as she scored the next two layups. Kyra Hart ended the game by having the gym loud as she made her next two three-pointers, including her last one being a buzzer-beater. Point is on a four-game winning streak resulting from the win today with an overall record of 7-4 and a conference record of 6-3. 

In the box 

Ananda Hughley caught fire in the second half and led the Skyhawks in scoring with 15 points while adding nine rebounds. Mataea Boyd followed with 13 points, four rebounds and one steal. Kyra Hart added 9 points from the bench with a perfect 3-3 from behind the arc.  

History Made 

Leading into today's game, Marta Gimenez was two points away from 1,000 points and ended the day with eight points. As a result of that, she surpassed 1,000 points and added two steals to put her at 250 career steals. 

Coach's Quote 

Head Coach, Tory Wooley, was overall pleased with what he saw from his team and the grit the Skyhawks played with. "I thought our players played a great game and it was an overall great team win for our program. Marta's 1,000 career points is a true testament of work ethic and her passion to our program. The return to the lineup of Jasmine Griggs is huge and her leadership and play really showed in today's game. Ananda had a very productive game leading our team in scoring." 

Up next 

The Skyhawks will return to action for an AAC matchup against Columbia International University on Tuesday, December 13, starting at 5:30 P.M.