Pleasantville, N.Y. -- Junior Sierra Clark tallied a total of 27 points behind a .632 shooting percentage to lead the Adelphi University women's basketball team to a 63-55 victory against the LIU Post Pioneers on the second day of the ECC/NE-10 Challenge on the campus of Pace University on Sunday afternoon.

Clark's big afternoon came as she shot 12-19 from the floor, while chipping in six rebounds and three steals. Ashley Gomez also tallied in double figures for the Brown and Gold (1-1), netting 16 points and dishing out five assists. Lauren Nuss, Samantha Brenner and Haley Parks combined for 15 boards, on an afternoon where eight different Panthers pulled down at least two rebounds. Janaysia James net a team-high 18 points for the Pioneers (0-2), while Robyn Francis scored 11 and Melsha Messam chipped in 10 off the bench.

A 5-5 tie became a 10-5 Adelphi lead in short order, as Lauren Nuss knocked down a three with 6:03 remaining in the opening period. The Pioneers pulled to within two points twice, but Gomez launched a three off a pass from Tara Flynn with just 16 seconds remaining in the opening quarter to give Adelphi a 17-12 lead. Adelphi outscored LIU Post by a 14-7 margin in the second quarter, and Clark put in back-to-back buckets to push the Panthers' lead to 11, 25-14, with 7:18 remaining until the break. Adelphi's offense continued to press, as they built a 31-16 lead -- their largest of the contest at 3:50 -- on consecutive fastbreaks from Clark and Calli Balfour before entering halftime with a 31-19 lead.

The Pioneers slowly wrestled momentum away from the Panthers in the third quarter, as James opened the scoring with a shot from behind the arc to cut the lead to single digits. While the Adelphi lead would linger in the low double figures for much of the quarter -- capped when a Gomez three-point play gave the Brown and Gold a 12-point, 41-29 lead with 3:58 in the quarter -- LIU Post scored nine of the final 12 points in the period to cut the lead to six, 44-38.

The Pioneers continued to ride the wave to start the final quarter, cutting the deficit to a single point, 46-45, behind a Francis trey at the 5:58 mark. With the game hanging in the balance, Francis gave the Pioneers their first lead since the opening quarter, 53-52, by hitting a three with just 2:40 to go. From there, however, Clark went off, scoring six of Adelphi's seven points over a 1:31 span to put Adelphi up by six, and the Brown and Gold rode out that run to a 63-55 final.

The Panthers return to action for their home and Northeast-10 Conference opener on Wednesday, November 18 against Southern Connecticut State University at 5:30 pm.
 

---

About Adelphi University Athletics
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009 and in the past six seasons has collected 16 regular season conference titles, 20 tournament championships, 27 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 President's Cup twice (2013 and 2014), while winning five NCAA Division II National Championships.

For the latest on Adelphi University Athletics, follow the Panthers at www.aupanthers.com or via social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat.