Box Score Garden City, N.Y. – The top-seeded Adelphi University women's basketball team played host to the Northeast Division No. 2 seeded Stonehill College Skyhawks in the semifinal round of the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament on Thursday night at the Center for Recreation and Sports. Behind a record setting night for Sade Jackson, the Panthers recorded the first win in program history over the Skyahwks, 93-77, advancing to the Championship game. With the win, the Panthers improve to 22-6 overall while the Skyhawks drop to 18-9.

Sade Jackson tied the single-game school record for points with a 36-point performance, shooting 13-15 from the floor. She also shot a perfect 9-9 from the charity stripe and added six rebounds and eight assists. Calli Balfour added 18 points and nine boards, while Jessica Kitrys chipped in 11 points and Jenna Halaby  contributed 10. For Stonehill, Mary Louise Dixon and Tori Faieta  recorded double-doubles as Dixon totaled 23 points with 11 boards and Faieta chipped in 13 points and 10 rebounds.

The opening minutes saw the visitors take a 5-2 lead behind buckets from Tori Faieta and Paige Marshall. Over the next three minutes, however, the Panthers tallied seven straight points to claim a 9-5 advantage with 16:27 to play. The lead would change hands three times over the ensuing action before Jackson converted on a three-point play and Kitrys laid it in on the ensuing possession to give the Panthers a 16-13 lead and force Stonehill into a timeout.

Balfour put in back-to-back buckets to extend the Panther lead to five, again pushing the visitors to talk it over with 10:30 left on the clock. Out of the timeout, Samantha Milhaven forced a Skyhawk turnover and Jenna Halaby broke through a wall of defenders to put Adelphi up seven, 22-15.

From there, the Skyhawks unleashed an 8-0 scoring run that culminated in Faieta hitting a pair from the line to take a 23-22 lead. A Mannix jumper put the Panthers back in the lead, and kick started a 14-2 scoring streak over the next three minutes of play, giving Adelphi a 36-25 lead with 4:19 to play in the half.

The story of the first half soon became the scoring battle between Jackson and Dixon, who tallied a combined 41 points in the opening stanza.

A Dixon three broke the Skyhawks' scoring drought, but Jackson answered with a three of her own on the next Panther possession to restore their 11 point lead at 39-28. Next it was Amy Pelletier to score from three for the visitors, but Jackson again found the hoop to keep the Brown and Gold ahead by double figures with 2:37 to play.

Four more points from Dixon cut the lead to six, 41-35, with less than two to play. Halaby drained a one-handed jumper despite being double-teamed, and after being fouled, Jackson hit a pair from the line to restore the Brown and Gold's 10-point lead.
Dixon's hot shooting from the field continued, as she tallied five of her 19 first half points on the ensuing possessions. With three seconds remaining, Jackson was fouled and again hit a perfect two from the charity stripe to put her team ahead, 47-40 at the half.

Kitrys and Faieta exchanged buckets to open the second frame, before Jackson again converted on a layup and the ensuing free throw to put the Panthers back ahead by 10, 52-42. On the next possession, Halaby picked up a steal and Kitrys lobbed a pass to Jackson down the court for an easy bucket to put the Brown and Gold ahead by 12 and cause a Skyhawk timeout.

Halaby again knocked the ball away to put the Panthers back on the offensive, and after Kitrys missed a jumper with just two seconds on the shot clock, Balfour grabbed the offense board and tipped it in to put the Panthers up by 14. Over the next three minutes, the Skyhawks would whittle away at the Adelphi lead, and cut it to 10 behind a three from Shannon Brown with 15:01 to play.

The back and forth scoring that categorized the game continued over the ensuing minutes until back-to-back buckets from Lauren Nuss and Balfour saw Adelphi take an 18-point lead, their largest of the game at that point, with 6:57 remaining.

Jackson made history with 5:05 remaining as she drove through the lane and netted a jumper to tie the single game record for points scored in a Panther uniform and give Adelphi a comfortable 20-point cushion.

The Skyhawks recorded back-to-back buckets to trim the lead to 16 with less than four minutes to play, but Mannix converted on a reverse layup and the ensuing free throw to all but seal the victory for the Panthers, who never led by less than that margin for the rest of the game.

The keys to the Adelphi victory were turnovers and points in the paint and the Panthers won both categories. Forcing the visitors into 21 turnovers, while committing just nine of their own and outscoring Stonehill, 58-26 in the paint.

Adelphi returns to action on Sunday, March 9 when they travel to Waltham, Massachusetts to face Northeast No. 1 Bentley University in the program's first Northeast-10 Tournament Championship game. Tip-off is set for 1:00pm and you can watch all the action live at www.northeast10.tv.