Box Score
Garden City, N.Y. – The Adelphi women's basketball team used a 48 point second half to turn a four-point halftime deficit into a 77-67 Northeast-10 Conference win over the College of Saint Rose on Wednesday night at the Center for Recreation and Sports. On the strength of five players in double digit scoring, the Panthers improve to 12-10 overall and even their NE-10 mark at 9-9 while the Golden Knights fall to 9-13 overall and 6-13 in the conference.
For the Panthers, five players scored in double figures, including three starters. Off the bench,
Ifeanyi Ofili led the team with 15 points and went 9-10 from the free throw line while
Jessica Kitrys and
Jenna Halaby each added 13 points apiece. Junior
Sade Jackson chipped in 12 points of her own and
Kelly Mannix rounded out the scoring with 11. As a squad, the Panthers shot 26-34 from the charity stripe, shot .414 from the field and did not allow St. Rose to hit on any of their 12 attempts from behind the arc.
For the Golden Knights, Gabie Polce and Jessica Walton led all scorers with 18 points each while Desiree Simmons added 17 of her own in the loss. Walton also pulled down a game high 12 rebounds while the team as a whole won the battle on the boards, 41-37.
In what was a close affair through the opening five minutes of the game, either side was able to get ahead by more than two points until
Samantha Milhaven hit a pair from the charity stripe to grow the early lead to 10-7 at the 15 minute mark.
A Mannix free throw, followed by a Jackson layup and a long two-point jumper from
Tara Flynn opened up an eight point gap, expanding the Panther lead to 17-9 with 12:04 remaining.
From there, the Golden Knights put together a 10-2 run over almost five minutes of action to close the gap to 21-19, but Kitrys would find the basket with her opposite hand to make it a two-possession game, 23-19 with 6:28 to go.
Buckets on back-to-back possessions for the visitors tied the game at 23, but Jackson converted on a three-point play to put her team back in front, 26-23. Layups from Polce and Walton gave the visitors their first lead since the opening minutes, 27-26 with under four minutes to play.
With 2:37 to go, Polce sunk a pair from the charity stripe to give Saint Rose a 29-27 lead, but a layup from Grace Elliot would tie things up at 29. However, the Golden Knights sunk two layups in the final minute to lead 33-29 at the half.
A pair of free throws from Nicole Bini gave the visitors a six point cushion at 35-29 to open the second half in what would be their largest of the game.
Kitrys hit a layup and chalked up two more from the charity stripe in quick succession to pull the Panthers within two. Halaby drained a fast break layup to knot the action at 37, and knocked down a pair from the free throw line to put the Brown and Gold in front, 39-37.
Much like early in the first, either team was able to pull away with a significant lead, and the score would tie on the ensuing four possessions each.
Halaby's two made free throws at the 9:50 mark sparked an offensive outburst. The Panthers scored six points in 15 seconds behind a three from Jackson and two steals converted into layups by Ofili. Halaby added a deuce for good measure to put Adelphi up by 10, 56-46 with 7:58 to go.
Each time the visitors' attempted to cut into the lead, the Panthers had an answer. At 4:50, the Golden Knights pulled within eight, but Mannix hit a three to give the Brown and Gold their largest lead of the game, 65-54 with 4:01 remaining.
A 7-2 run for Saint Rose cut the deficit to 67-61 with just 2:12 to go, but from there the Brown and Gold combined for 10-12 from the free throw line to pull away with and put the game on ice.
The Panthers return to action on Saturday, February 16, when they travel to Worchester, Mass. to take on the Greyhounds of Assumption College in an NE-10 conference contest. Tipoff is scheduled for 1:30 pm.
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