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LANCASTER, PA -- Amy Kreitz (Sr., Allentown, PA/Salisbury) scored 25 points, including a lay-up with 6.4 seconds left on the clock for the go-ahead score as Franklin & Marshall knocked off Moravian College, 72-70 in non-conference women's basketball action in the Mayser Center. With 8.8 seconds left on the clock and trailing 70-69, guard Jamie Drahos (Jr., Ambler, PA/Wissahickon) broke up a Moravian pass with two seconds left on the shot clock and threw it ahead to Kreitz who laid in a right-handed lay-up for a 71-70 lead. On the ensuing inbounds pass, the Greyhounds would throw the ball out of bounds, turning the ball back over to F&M. Lauren Howanski (Sr., Gap, PA/Pequea Valley) would successfully found Kreitz who was immediately fouled by Kim Hughes and made one-of-two foul shots. Down 72-70, the Greyhounds would attempt to get a shot off before the horn, but the clock would expire before a possible tying shot was launched. In the first half, Kreitz connected on eight-of-11 field goal attempts and three-of-four from beyond the three-point line, for a career high 19 points in the first 20 minutes of the game as F&M held a 43-35 lead at intermission. She would score F&M's first six points of the game and its last three as she raised her career scoring total to 1,394 points to move into eighth place all-time in the Centennial Conference in scoring, surpassing the mark of 1,375 set by Western Maryland College's Kathi Snyder '99. For the game, she converted 10-of-16 from the floor, and four-of-five beyond the arch, while stripping a game high five steals to lead the Diplomats on both ends of the court. Leading 6-4 following six straight points by Kreitz, the Diplomats would go on a 6-0 run to build an eight-point lead with 13:23 left in the first half. The lead would expand to 18-9 at 11:18 as Drahos hit a lay-up off a Kreitz assist before the Diplomats reeled off a 9-2 run to go ahead by 16, the largest lead of the game. Moravian cut the lead to 30-27 at 5:52 at Kelly McLean made both ends of a one-and-one, but Kreitz and Fran DiFazio (Jr., Hampton, NJ/Pennington School) swished short jumpers to start a run which saw F&M outscore the Greyhounds 13-8 going into intermission. Following a foul-shot by Kirsten Richter (Jr., Wyomissing, PA/Wyomissing) at 10:55 to make the lead 53-47, the Greyhounds ran off the next seven points capped by a pair of free-throws by Tracie Shipman to tie the game at 54. Richter would finish with one point and two rebounds in 14 minutes in her first game since suffering a torn ACL on November 18 in the championship game of the F&M Tip-Off Tournament in the Mayser Center. The teams would exchange baskets before Kelly McLean laid in a field goal at the 5:53 mark for a 59-58 Moravian lead, the first since the 18:31 mark of the first half. Kreitz answered with a three-point basket at the 5:00 minute mark for a 61-59 lead, but Moravian's McLean and Shipman would convert back-to-back baskets for a 63-61 lead with 4:10 to play. Trailing 68-65 with 1:29 to play, Howanski made two-of-two from the free-throw line to cut the Greyhound lead to 68-67. Hughes laid in a basket before F&M center Amy Abernathy (So, Far Hills, NJ/American School Paris) scored her 23rd point of the game off her own offensive rebound to trail 70-69 with 43 seconds left and set up Drahos and Kreitz' heroics. Abernathy would finish with 23 points and 10 rebounds for her ninth double-double of the season. Through fourteen games, she has previously recorded double-doubles against Waynesburg (23 points, 15 rebounds), Lycoming (21 points, 19 rebounds), Gwynedd Mercy (16 points, 13 rebounds), Western Maryland College (16 points, 15 rebounds), Muhlenberg (16 points, 11 rebounds), Drew (12 points, 12 rebounds), Elizabethtown (19 points, 20 rebounds) and Ursinus (10 points, 12 rebounds). The win continues a seven game winning streak by Franklin & Marshall (10-4, 3-2 Centennial Conference) as the Diplomats have yet to lose in 2002. In addition, the win marks the first time since 1996 that Franklin & Marshall has defeated Moravian (10-6, 4-1 Middle Atlantic Conference) as the Diplomats are now 10-18 all-time against the Greyhounds.
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