Women's Basketball Posts 61-45 Win Over San Francisco at Subway Classic in Minnesota

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11/20/05 -- Senior Amber Wirth scored 17 points to lead Long Island University to a 61-46 victory over San Francisco in women’s college basketball action at the Subway Classic on Sunday.

The triumph was the Blackbirds (1-1) first of the season having fallen to Stanford 69-28 on Saturday in the opening round of the event hosted by the University of Minnesota.

Wirth, a native of nearby Hastings, Minn, tallied 12 of her team-best 17 in the second half. She shot 5-of-9 from 3-point range in the contest.

Junior center Sara Oblak (Skofja Loka, Slovenia) added 11 points and newcomers Sonya Coleman (Toledo, Ohio) and Marquita Thompson (Garland, Texas) had 14 and 10 points, respectively. Senior Polona Oberc (Ljubljana, Slovenia) paced the Blackbirds on the defensive end with nine rebounds.

After leading 23-21 at the break, Coleman hit a jumper and Wirth nailed a three-pointer in the first minute of the second period to push the lead to seven. The Dons closed to two, 39-37, at the 10:36 mark following a jumper from Nickie Warren.

LIU, however, had an answer behind the hot shooting of Wirth. She drained another trey- one of her five in the game- to commence a 9-0 run. Thompson closed the rally, giving the Blackbirds a comfortable 46-37 advantage with 7:10 remaining in the game.

The Blackbirds shot 54.5 percent from the field in the second stanza, 41.7 percent from ‘3’.