Garden City, N.Y. -- With the Adelphi University women's basketball team trailing the Southern Connecticut State University Owls by one with under a minute to play in the team's home opener on Wednesday night inside the Center for Recreation and Sports, Ashley Gomez drove to the hoop and sunk the game-winning layup and one to push the Panthers past their Southwest Division rivals, 69-68.

Gomez's final bucket of the game was the last of her 18 points on the evening, and she was joined in double figures by Tara Flynn, whose 10 points also helped Adelphi (2-1, 1-0 NE-10) rally from a five-point halftime deficit. Lauren Nuss and Sierra Clark each net nine points, the majority coming in the second half to spark the Brown and Gold rally. Gomez, Sierra Schrader and Samantha Brenner each pulled down seven boards, while Clark chipped in two blocks to help the Panthers on defense. 

Southern Connecticut came out quickly to start off the first quarter, scoring the opening six points of the game and pushing the lead to 11-5 at the midway point. With 3:15 remaining, Calli Balfour converted on a three-point play before Haley Parks drained a three on the ensuing possession to give the Brown and Gold its first lead of the night at 17-16. Murad Murphy responded with a trey of her of her own to put the Owls back on top, but buckets for Balfour and Niajah Morgan gave Adelphi a 21-19 lead at the first break. 
 
The visitors opened the second quarter with an 11-2 run pushing their lead to 30-23, forcing Adelphi to call a timeout with 5:45 left in the frame. From that point, both teams struggled for buckets, but the Owls found themselves ahead 34-26 heading into halftime.
 
The break proved pivitol for the Brown and Gold, as Adelphi opened the quarter with a 12-3 run -- featuring seven points from Clark -- to lead 40-37. Consecutive treys from Flynn seemed to put momentum in Adelphi's corner as the game headed towards the final quarter, but both teams were deadlocked at 48-48 heading into the final frame.

While both teams traded points to open the fourth, the Owls found themselves leading by five courtesy of a Taylor McLaughlin three-point play at the five minute mark. After Gomez was fouled and sunk two from the line, Flynn stole the ball off Erin Ryder and Nuss duly delivered from long range to knot the score at 58-58. After the Owls reclaimed the lead, Gomez connected from deep to nudge Adelphi ahead by one, 61-60 with just 1:40 to go. From that point, the lead changed hands three times to lead to Gomez's heroics, and although McLaughlin had the chance to send the game to overtime while standing at the line, she sunk just one of two freebies to allow Adelphi to hang on for the 69-68 win.

The Panthers return to action on Saturday, November 21 when they travel to Springfield, Mass. to take on the Yellow Jackets of American International College in a 1:30 contest. 

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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.

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