Box Score

North Andover, Mass. -  The Adelphi University women's basketball team dropped a hard-fought battle to Merrimack College Saturday afternon with a final score of 69-74. The loss drops the Panthers to 14-4 overall and 8-4 in the Northeast-10 Conference. Merrimack improves to 10-7 and 6-6 in conference play. 

Senior Sade Jackson became the 21st player in Adelphi history to score 1,000 points in her career, with a layup at 6:05 in the second half, to even the score at 60. Her day concluded with 13 points and four assists in the loss. 

Leading the offense was senior Jessica Kitrys who accounted for 23 points and eight rebounds, along with two steals. Freshman Ashley Gomez came off the bench to contribute six point and four rebounds of her own. On the Warriors' side, junior Chloe Rothman led all players with 24 points and was announced as the Fuddruckers' Player of the Game in the post-game announcements. 

The Panthers held a steady lead much into the first half, with the largest margin appearing with 13:43 remaining at 14-7, on a Kelly Mannix lay-in. Merrimack reacted with a 17-5 run that gave them the upper hand, leading 24-19.

Adelphi would continue to trail at the half, as a Jackson free throw brought them within four of the Warriors, 28-32. Kitrys, who posts 61.6 shooting percent from the field, shot 5-10 in the first half alone. 

Coming out of the locker room, a quick layup by Jenna Halaby would decrease Merrimack's lead to two as the scoreboard read 32-30 with 19:32 remaining. The hosts would continue to drain shots and maintain a lead as Mannix would contribute from downtown to bring the Panthers within three 35-38.

A layup by Jackson at 16:00 would bring the Brown and Gold within one (39-40) and just a few minutes later an appearance at the charity stripe by Kitrys would push the Panthers past Merrimack 49-48 with 11:08 remaining in the half. 

The teams would experience four more tie scores but Adelphi was unable to capitalize as the Warriors experienced an 8-4 scoring run, leading 68-64 with just under a minute in the game. Tara Flynn would come off the bench with 45 seconds left and contribute a triple to be within three of the hosts, 67-70.  Back-to-back layups would seal the deal for Merrimack with a final score of 74-69. 

Up Next
The Panthers will return to NE-10 action on Wednesday, January 29 as they head north to Franklin Pierce University with tip-off slated for 5:30 p.m. Live stats for the game can be found by clicking here.