Feb. 15, 2007

Box Score

Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University women's basketball team shot just 28.6 percent from the field yet managed to edge Dowling College, 45-43, on Thursday night at Woodruff Hall. The Panthers improve to 13-11 and 12-5 in the conference while the Golden Lions fall to 10-14 and 7-10.

The Panthers got off to a solid start with a 7-0 run in the first five mintues of play. The Golden Lions rallied on a 12-4 run to take the lead, at 10:33. After several ties and lead changes, Adelphi held a one point advantage, 26-25, with 2:07 remaining. Dowling hit two free throws to regain the lead as Adelphi went 0-3 in its final attempts to trail, 27-26, at half-time.

The second half proved to be a defensive battle as both teams scrambled after missed shots. The Panthers connected on just 7-of-21 from the field, compared with just 5-of-21 for the Golden Lions. However Adelphi grabbed 45 rebounds, led by sophomore Serita Lee with a career-high 16 boards.

The Panthers led by as much as five points, 37-32, midway through the second half. The Golden Lions collected three of their next five points from the charity stripe to move ahead at 8:21. A three-pointer by graduate student Dana Petersen put Adelphi back up at 5:30, but it was short lived as Dowling fought back, 43-42, with 2:56 left in regulation.

Junior Mary Lepore tallied three of her game-high 14 points in the remaining minutes, while Adelphi's defense prevented Dowling from making another field goal attempt to hold on for the win.

Junior Gianna Smith was the only other Panther in double figures with 12 points. She also pulled down nine rebounds.

Molly Tubridy had 10 points and 11 rebounds for Dowling.

Adelphi has needed less than 50 points to win a game on several occasions throughout its recorded history, however the lowest win on record was during the 1968-69 season when they defeated Hofstra, 30-22.

Next up, the Panthers hit the road for the first of two tough conference games. On Saturday, February 17, they face the University of Bridgeport at 1:00 p.m., followed by C.W. Post on Wednesday, February 21.