Jan. 8, 2011

Box Score

Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University women's basketball team hosted the St. Anselm College Hawks earlier today in a conference match-up. Despite leading 45-39 at the break, the Hawks defeated the Panthers, 68-58. Adelphi drops to 6-7 on the year, 3-6 in league play, while St. Anselm improves to 6-7 overall, 3-6 in the Northeast-10.

St. Anselm opened the second-half on an 11-0 run as they erased a six-point halftime deficit to lead 40-37 within the two minutes and 42-seconds. In the stretch, Smith nailed a trey to cut Adelphi's lead to five, 37-32. After a three-point play by Megan Howard, Vanessa D'Ambrosi knocked down a triple of her own giving St. Anselm its first lead since the opening bucket, 38-37 with 17:58 shown.

Trailing 45-39, senior forward Ashley Caiafa scored the next seven Adelphi points as the Panthers trailed 47-46 at the 10:45 mark. Both clubs exchanged buckets over the next four minutes, and as it was Caiafa basket with 5:19 to go trimmed St. Anselm lead to two, 53-51. On the ensuing possession, Smith answered the bell with a triple extending St. Anselm's lead to five, 56-51. Sophomore Alexis Williams cut the lead once more to two, 58-56, but Smith once more nailed a triple. St. Anselm hit free-throws down the stretch to win the contest.

Adelphi sprinted out of the gate as they went on an 8-0 run in the game first five minutes of play. Four different Panthers scored during the run as a lay-up by sophomore forward Samantha Breidenbach and Caiafa put Adelphi in-front 8-2. Both teams exchanged buckets over the next five minutes of play, as Kitrys bucket put Adelphi ahead 16-11 with 10:02 remaining in the first. The Panthers ended the half on a 11-5 run that was capped off by a Caiafa jumper off of an in-bounds pass by freshman Sade Jackson with one-second left as Adelphi went into the break leading 35-29.

Smith collected a game-high of 22 points for St. Anselm as Curran Leighton collected 14 points, and Howard knotched 11. The Hawks shot 42.9-percent beyond the three-point line. Caiafa had a team-high of 20 points while sophomore Breidenbach collected 12 points and 11 rebounds for Adelphi.

Adelphi returns to action on Wednesday, January 12, when they battle UMass-Lowell Riverhawks at 5:30 p.m.