Box Score
Garden City, N.Y. – The Adelphi University women's basketball team turned a four point halftime deficit into a 73-60 win over Merrimack College on Wednesday night at the Center for Recreation and Sports. The Brown and Gold outscored the visiting Warriors 38-21 in the second half to improve to 9-3 overall and 6-2 in the NE-10, matching last season's win total with 14 regular season contests left. With the loss, the Warriors drop to 8-4 and 4-4 in conference play.
The Panthers had five players score in double figures.
Jessica Kitrys fell one rebound short of a double-double with 15 points and nine boards.
Kelly Mannix added 14 points behind four 3-pointers,
Jenna Halaby and
Lauren Nuss chipped in 12 each and
Sade Jackson added 11 points to go with eight rebounds and eight assists. For Merrimack, Kelly Schatzlein scored 14 points and Chloe Rothman added 10.
Both teams evenly traded scoring over the first three minutes for a 6-6 tie, but a layup from
Samantha Milhaven sparked a 6-0 Adelphi run which gave the home team a 12-6 lead with 14:43 to go. Consecutive buckets from the Warriors closed the gap to 12-10, but a three from Mannix brought the lead to 15-10.
A Nuss 3-pointer would give the Brown and Gold an 18-14 lead at 11:44, but a pair of free throws and a jumper from the visitors in under a minute of action would knot the game at 18-18. The back-and-forth scoring would continue until a layup from Kitrys and a three from Mannix gave the Panthers a 32-27 lead with just under five minutes to go.
The Warriors would outscore the Panthers 12-3 in the remaining minutes to take a 39-35 lead into halftime, taking advantage of cold Panther shooting down the stretch that saw the hosts fail to record a field goal in the final three minutes.
The tug-of-war scoring that was the story of the first half would continue early in the second and the Warriors would widen their lead to five, 46-41, behind an Ashley Weissmann three. Consecutive threes from Milhaven and Mannix gave the Panthers their first lead since 3:56 in the opening half, and another bucket from Milhaven gave the home squad a 49-46 advantage with 15:06 to go.
A Rothman 3-pointer would knot the action at 49-49, but a 3-point play from Kitrys and a 3-point jumper from Nuss would give the home team a 55-49 lead with 12:03 to go. The visitors would narrow the gap to 55-52 with under 10 minutes remaining, but a 7-0 run behind buckets from Jackson and Milhaven and a three from Mannix would give the Brown and Gold a 62-52 lead.
The Panthers took their largest lead of the game behind a Halaby layup and would lead by 12, 66-54, with 4:49 remaining. The only scoring for the home team in the remaining minutes would come from free throws. With Merrmimack forced to foul, the Panthers hit seven of nine freebies to put the game out of reach.
The Panthers are back in action on Saturday, January 12, when they head north to Colchester, Vt., to take on St. Michael's College in a NE-10 conference contest. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
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