By Scott Dudinskie
LEWISBURG -- From Bucknell's first touch it was clear the second half of Tuesday's game with Loyola (Md.) was going to be much different than the first.
Far too often in the first half, when the shot clock neared zero, the Bison settled for a rushed perimeter shot. But on that first possession after halftime, when the sparse crowd at Sojka Pavilion began to tick down the seconds on the shot clock, Bucknell got the ball inside to Joyce Novacek for a better look and an easy bucket.
The Bison grabbed the lead for good a minute later, and pushed the margin to 12 at one point in an eventual 67-60 win.
Bucknell (2-3) dominated inside on both ends of the floor, particularly in the second half. The Bison scored 40 points in the paint overall, shooting 59.3 percent after halftime, and they limited the visiting Greyhounds (2-3) to just six offensive rebounds, three in each half.
"It wasn't like that was said at halftime, but I think when we're playing our best we're working our interior and outside," said Novacek, a junior who had 15 points and 10 rebounds. "The more we force it in, it means you can really work the inside-out game better."
Morgan Wrightson's 19 points led four Bison in double figures, and Bucknell won its second straight despite playing without junior forward Cosima Higham.
Without Higham, second on the team in both scoring (10.0 ppg) and rebounding (8.8), Bucknell was seemingly out of sorts in the first half. The reliance on jump shots led to the Bison scoring only 11 points in the first 11 minutes and shooting just 35.5 percent in the half (1-for-8 from 3-point range).
Wrightson scored eight consecutive points in a six-minute span of the half to help keep Bucknell close. The Bison led, 23-22, at the break, weathering the poor shooting and four players with two fouls apiece.
"I didn't think we played a good first half at all," said Bucknell coach Kathy Fedorjaka. "I thought we were extremely flat."
Novacek's early second-half basket was followed by a Trisha Krewson 3-pointer for a 28-25 lead. Novacek scored back-to-back hoops in the paint to bump the lead to six and continued to flourish in the middle, scoring all but two of her points in the half.
"We had an awful lot (of success inside) in a little run there, and then I think that opened up some other things as well," said Fedorjaka. "Novacek got some really good looks in the paint; we got her the ball deep and she made some great moves and had some finishes. All of a sudden (Loyola) really had to adjust.
"I kinda wish I had gone to that earlier."
Rachel Voss, who sat for near six-minute stretch of the first half after picking up her second foul, scored all 11 of her points after halftime. The freshman added six boards, five on the defensive end. Her 3-pointer with 3:30 to play gave Bucknell a 58-46 lead.
Bucknell limited Greyhounds sophomore Miriam McKenzie to 11 points, eight below her team-leading average. Loyola, which totaled just seven second-chance points, had one offensive rebound in the last 15:30.
"That was a huge focus of ours. We've been giving up a fair number of (offensive) boards to the other team, so we were really focusing on boxing out and getting that done. It was very important," said Novacek. "Cosi's an outstanding rebounder ... I didn't feel necessarily pressure (in her absence), but I knew I had to really focus on the glass. I think I did all right."
