Feb. 28, 2007

Box Score

Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University women's basketball team defeated Molloy College, 68-55, in the first round of the East Coast Conference Tournament on Wednesday night at Woodruff Hall. The Panthers improve to 16-12 and advance to the ECC semifinals to face #2 C.W. Post. Molloy finishes its season with a 15-13 showing.

Junior Mary Lepore led a balanced attack with 18 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore Lisa Manetta came off the bench for 17 points, including 2-for-2 from beyond the arc.

Molloy took charge early on and led, 10-6, at 15:01. Adelphi responded on a 9-0 run, capped by a jumper plus the free throw from sophomore Serita Lee. After a three minute dry spell, the Lions closed to within one on a Katelyn Dunn layup, 15-14, with 7:23 remaining. The Panthers put all fears to rest as they closed the half on a 17-6 run.

Adelphi pushed its lead to 16 points, 42-26, on a jumper by graduate student Dana Petersen in the opening minutes of the second half. She had 10 points, six boards and three asissts on the night. AU held a comfortable advantage through the ten minute mark before Molloy used an 11-4 rally to close the gap to three, 48-45, at 8:41. Junior Gianna Smith collected three of her 10 points to reignite the Adelphi spark as they outscored Molloy 20-10 in the remaining minutes for the win.

Kymira Woodberry led Molloy with 18 points and a game-high 16 rebounds. Lisa Abitante had ten points.

This is the first time in three years the Panthers have advanced past the first round of the conference tournament. The last time Adelphi won in the first round playoffs was during the 2003-04 season and they went on to win the conference title and earn the automatic NCAA Regional bid.

The Panthers will face the Pioneers on Saturday, March 2, at 2:30 p.m. on the campus of the University of Bridgeport.