March 12, 2004

Box Score

North Andover, Mass. - The Adelphi University women's basketball team lost to host Merrimack College, 92-67, in the first round of the NCAA DII Northeast Regionals on Friday night at the Volpe Center. The Panthers finish their season 20-11, while the Warriors improve to 28-3.

"It was a tough loss for us," said second-year Head Coach Kelley Watts. "Merrimack beat us down the floor with their great man-to-man defense. We worked hard all season to get here and when you have a loss like we had today, it takes away from a great season. I am very proud of our team."

Junior Melanie Mangone led all players with game-high 22 points. Sophomore Carlyshia Hurdle had 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Senior Kerri Kirschbaum added 10 points.

Trailing by as much as 15 points in the first half, the Panthers cut the lead to nine, 42-31, at the half. Opening the second half on an 6-0 run, Adelphi closed the gap to just three, 41-38, at 17:35. The Warriors responded on an 8-0 run to open a 12 point advantage. Adelphi was unable to spur another rally as Merrimack opened its lead to 24 points, 73-49, with 6:33 remaining.

The Warriors dominated the boards, outrebounding Adelphi 45-33.

Joelle Martin led a balanced Merrimack attack with 19 points. Christina Siragusa pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds.

Merrimack improves its all-time series to 3-1 against the Panthers.

This was the third NCAA appearance for Adelphi and the first since 2001. With 20 wins this season, it also marks the second best finish for the Panthers in school history. The school record for wins came in 2001, when Adelphi finished 28-3, winning the NYCAC regular season and tournament championship, advancing to the NCAA Regional finals.