Feb. 17, 2010

Box Score

Garden City, N.Y. - Junior Ashley Caiafa and sophomore Erika Cottle combined to score 36 of Adelphi's 47 second half points to lead the Panthers to a 68-65 victory over Southern Connecticut State University. The win snapped an eight-game skid to help the team improve to 4-21 on the season and 1-19 in the Northeast-10, while the Owls drop to 11-14 and 8-12 in the league.

It was a lackluster first half which saw the Panthers connect for just 7-of-28 from the field. In contrast, the Owls shot 54.5 percent to hold onto a comfortable 21-point lead, 42-21, at half-time.

But the roles were reversed in the second stanza as Adelphi came alive, and slowly began chipping away at the deficit. Cottle, posted 17 of her 19 points in the second half, with Caiafa recording 19 of her game-high points as well. The Panthers cut the lead to two points, 55-53, on a Phelan Livingston basket, plus the foul with 6:32 on the clock. The Owls responded to push it back to a seven point margin. But Adelphi continued to fight, closing again to within two as freshman Kara Tancredi hit two of her 11 points with 2:47 left to go, 63-61.

Cottle's next basket and one gave the Panthers their first lead of the night, 64-63, with 1:22 left in regulation. A key steal by Livingston set up Caiafa's basket with a foul, helping to open the lead to three, 66-63, with just under a minute remaining. SCSU hit a layup to close to within one point, but Caiafa was steady from the charity stripe hitting both to seal the victory as the Owls were unable to connect on their final shot.

With a 58.6 percent effort in the second half, the Panthers finished with 42.1 percent from the field on the night. They were stellar from the line, hitting 17-of-21 (81%), including 11-for-11 in the second half.

The Owls were led by Shelly Pierson with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Allyson Smith had 13 points, while Logan Lentz and Alex Fiolas added 12 and 11, respectively.

Adelphi returns to action on Saturday, February 20, as they travel to Springfield, Massachusetts to take on American International at 1:00 p.m.