Garden City, N.Y. - Behind five players in double figures, the No. 10 Adelphi University women's basketball team picked up its ninth consecutive victory against the Lightning of Goldey-Beacom College on Thursday night at the Center for Recreation and Sports. Buoyed by a 50-33 halftime lead, the Panthers withstood an early second half challenge from the visitors to come away with a 103-89 win. 

Calli Balfour scored 22 points behind a .714 shooting percentage (10-14) to lead Adelphi (9-0) in the victory. Anh-Dao Tran dropped 21 points and shot 5-10 behind the arc, while Sierra Clark came off the bench to contribute 16 points. Jenna Halaby (15 points) and Kelly Mannix (13 points) rounded out the leaders for the Brown and Gold, and the classmates also combined for 14 rebounds. Goldey-Beacom (2-8) was led by Britani Bryson, who led all scorers with 23 points. 

After the visitors scored just 17 seconds into the contest, the Panthers ripped off nine conscutive points to claim a lead they would never relinquish. While the Lightning got within one possession at 17:16, back-to-back threes from Balfour and Tran saw Adelphi double up the score of 15-7 and lengthen their lead. The Panther lead grew to 10 behind a layup from Samantha Brenner at the 14:43 mark, and the Brown and Gold continued to hold a double-digit advantage for much of the first half. 

A Bryson layup cut the lead to nine at 9:35, but 13-3 run by the Panthers, which included six points by Clark and a trey from Mannix, gave the hosts their largest lead of the half at 42-23. The Panthers' last field goal of the half came from Ashley Gomez with 43 seconds remaining, but the Lightning converted on four free throw opportunities in the final seconds to head into the locker room down 50-33. 

The Lightning scored 15 points over the first three minutes of the second half and sank four three-pointrs to trail by just 10, 57-47. Brenner, Mannix and Tran all scored on the ensuing Adelphi possessions to push the lead closer to 20 points, and Adelphi eventually reached that mark behind a Halaby jumper at 11:27.  The Panthers held a 20-point lead on three more occasions in the half, before a Mannix three at 2:55 put the hosts up 97-76. The Brown and Gold cracked the 100-point plateau behind a Clark layup with just 22 seconds remaining, before Emily Brandt came off the bench to sink the final bucket and give Adelphi the 103-89 win.

The Panthers return to action on Saturday, December 13 when they host non-conference foe East Stroudsburg University in a 1:30 p.m. contest in the Center For