The Misericordia women's basketball team won at Wilkes, 78-52, Wednesday evening at the Henry Gymnasium.

Leanne Forsyth had a career-high 20 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Paige Wampole had 12 points and eight rebounds while Rachel Carmody had 10 points and seven rebounds. Justine Seely had nine points and four blocks.

Carmody drilled two foul shots and Forsyth found Seely for an elbow jumper to give MU an early 4-2 lead. Wilkes got fouled shooting a three and made them all to make it 6-5. Forsyth had her fingerprints all over the next few possessions.

Forsyth caught the ball on the left baseline, got past her defender and laid it in to make it 8-5. She stole an entry pass and outran everyone before she laid it in off the glass. The next possession she came down and drilled a pull-up jumper on the right wing. Forsyth stole another pass, passed it ahead to Carroll who found Seely underneath to make it 12-5 MU.

Wampole scored twice and Seely added a layup before Wilkes scored on a fast break to make the score 18-7 with three minutes to go in the quarter. 

Wilkes closed the quarter on a 9-2 run which made it  20-16 after one.

Forsyth continued her strong play, scoring the first two buckets of the second quarter for the Cougars. She banked in a jumper from the right side and then drove past her defender, froze the help defender with a ball fake before she laid it in. She found Japriya Carroll for a corner three and Wampole scored in the paint as the Cougars opened the quarter on a 9-0 run.

Wilkes came right back with an 8-0 run over the next three minutes to make it 29-24 Misericordia.

Forsyth hit back to back jumpers to push the lead back up to nine. Wilkes made two foul shots, Forsyth split a pair and the Colonels hit a jumper to make it 34-28 MU.

Jaclyn Hajec drilled a top of the key three off a pass from Liz Waleski, and Forsyth split another set of foul shots. Wilkes nailed a jumper to make the score 38-30 at half time.

The Cougars blew the game open as they started the third quarter on a 13-0 run in the first four minutes. Seely scored in the paint and Forsyth found Carmody down low for an easy layup before Seely blew past her defender and converted the and-one. She made the foul shot before Croasdale hit back to back three pointers to cap the run.

The Colonels hit a three before Forsyth broke the press and threw it ahead to a streaking Carmody who laid it in to make it 53-33 MU. Both teams made two foul shots before the Cougars went on another run. Forsyth made a layup, Kristen Schmale made three foul shots and Hajec swished a three to cap the 8-0 run. The Colonels hit a wing jumper to make the score 63-37 as Misericordia outscored Wilkes 25-7 in the third.

The Cougar lead never dipped below 20 in the final quarter.

MU won the battle on the boards, 58-36.

Misericordia moves to 11-6, 5-2 in the MAC Freedom and will play FDU-Florham, Saturday at 1:00.