Box Score
Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University women's basketball team hung tight with third-place Assumption College in an up-tempo first half, but the Greyhounds pulled away late to hand the Panthers an 85-70 loss in Northeast-10 Conference action at the Center for Recreation and Sport on Saturday. Adelphi drops to 8-15 overall and 6-13 in NE-10 play, and Assumption improves to 17-6 overall and 14-5 in the league.
The Panthers honored their lone senior,
Amanda Campusano, during Senior Day pregame ceremonies. The Bronx, N.Y., native responded by draining 11 points and swishing a pair of 3-pointers in her final weekend home game of her regular season career.
Sophomore
Jessica Kitrys netted a career-high 23 points on 11-of-18 shooting from the field including a 7-for-9 clip in the second half, marking the second straight game Kitrys has lit up the scoreboard for at least 22 points. Classmate
Sade Jackson chipped in 18 points and dished out five assists, and freshman
Kelly Mannix added nine points. Jackson, Kitrys, Mannix and
Brenna Gonsalves split a four-way team lead with six rebounds apiece to help Adelphi outrebound Assumption by a slim 34-33 margin.
Assumption's Gabrielle Gibson tied Kitrys with a game-best 23 points on a highly-economical 9-of-12 mark from the floor and 3-of-5 tally from 3-point land. Kelly Meredith, the NE-10's leading scorer, poured in 21 points and brought down seven rebounds, while Katy Howard scored 17 points and handed out eight assists. The Greyhounds fired with deadly accuracy throughout the game, shooting 55.2 percent (32-for-58) from the field overall and a staggering 61.5 percent (16-for-26) in the first half.
A first half shootout saw the Panthers wrangle for the lead early on and claim a 4-0 advantage in the first minute on buckets by Kitrys and Gonsalves. The Adelphi lead would never grow larger, however, and a three point advantage (18-15) with 12:30 to go in the half gave way to an offensive flurry by the Greyhounds, who relied on sharp jump shooting from Howard and dominant post play by Meredith to work a 10-point lead heading into halftime. Kitrys, Campsano and Jackson helped keep Adelphi afloat in the first frame with eight points each. When not driving to the hoop, Jackson consistently fed Kitrys inside or found Campusano open on the wing for open jumpers, but the Panthers offense remained one step behind the hot-handed Greyhounds.
The Panthers chiseled the Assumption lead to single digits early in the second half, cutting the deficit down to five points on two occassions via a Jackson layup and a pair of Mannix free throws. The Greyhounds rebuttled with an 8-2 run that stretched their lead beyond 10 again and revved up enough momentum to race out to an 18 point lead midway through the half.
Down 70-52, Adelphi was forced to stick with Kitrys and Jackson with three fouls each in hopes of sparking a run to get back in the game. Kitrys responded with a strong inside presence that rivaled Meredith's and kept the game in check long enough to allow Mannix to splash a 3-pointer to cut the margin to 10 points with 3:59 to play. The Panthers would get no closer, however, and despite Jackson earning six points in the final 3:30, Assumption never budged and walked away with an 85-70 win.
The Panthers play their second-to-last home game of the regular season when they host Pace University for an NE-10 contest on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
