Olivia Ciullo posted the second double-double of her career Thursday night, scoring 20 points and grabbing 15 rebounds while leading Marywood University to a 72-61 women’s basketball victory over visiting Rutgers-Newark.
The NEPA Elite Clark 17U AAU team and Old Forge High School alum played all 40 minutes. She went 8-for-14 from the floor and 4-for-5 from the line. Ciullo grabbed seven of her rebounds on the offensive end and also had three assists and a steal.
Ciullo, a 5-foot-8 sophomore guard, began her college career at Susquehanna University, but transferred to Marywood at the semester break and made an impact for the Pacers in the second half of the season. That included a double-double of 17 points and 17 rebounds against Neumann and a career-high 24 points against Gwynedd Mercy.
Marywood is 2-1 going into the Cross County Challenge Saturday and Sunday at Wilkes.
Ciullo is leading the Pacers in rebounds (9.3 per game), minutes played (32.0) and field goal percentage (51.4). She averages 13.3 points per game, second on the team to Lake-Lehman graduate Savannah Purdy.
At Susquehanna, Ciullo averaged 2.0 points and 2.3 rebounds in 9.4 minutes while playing eight games.
After transferring, Ciullo made the Atlantic East weekly honor roll, earned a conference Defensive Player of the Week award and made the Atlantic East Academic Honor Roll.
Ciullo played 12 games at Marywood as a freshman, starting 10. She averaged 12.6 points and a team-high 6.4 rebounds for the 8-14 Pacers.
Ciullo is one of two former NEPA Elite players who transferred to Marywood early in their college careers.
Rachel McDonald, a 5-4 guard from Abington Heights, leads the team with four 3-pointers on 14 attempts (28.6 percent). She is the fourth-leading scorer at 7.3 points per game in 20 minutes off the bench.
McDonald played 22 games last season as a freshman at Misericordia University, making a single start. She was fifth on the team with seven 3-pointers while averaging 1.8 points in 7.2 minutes per game.