Garden City, N.Y. -- Carried by a program record-tying 36 points by junior Sierra Clark, 30 of which came in the second half, the Adelphi University women's basketball team snapped a two-game skid and defeated the visiting Purple Knights from Saint Michael's College, 68-52, on Saturday afternoon inside the Center for Recreation and Sports.

Clark, who came off the bench in Saturday's contest, shot over 80% from the floor (17-21 FG) in the contest and went 14-18 in the second half for 30 of her points. Ashley Gomez chipped in 10 points in the effort for Adelphi (11-5, 4-4 NE-10) while Samantha Brenner pulled down a team-high rebounds to go along with her eight points. Makenzie Burud led the effort for the Purple Knights (5-8, 2-7 NE-10) with 17 points. 

An 11-0 run to start the contest, where Brenner tallied six of her points, set the tone for Adelphi on the afternoon, but the Purple Knights battled hard and pulled the game to within four behind a Leah Spencer three with 2:45 remaining in the quarter. The final points of the first frame came off the hand of Tara Flynn, who ensured that the Brown and Gold went into the second period up six at 17-11. Flynn proceeded to score five of Adelphi's eight points to open the second period, and a Gomez trey put the lead in double figures, 25-14, with 7:44 remaining.

A Burud layup cut the Adelphi lead to five, 25-20, behind a 7-0 scoring run for the Purple Knights, and after Niajah Morgan and Burud traded buckets to close out the period, the Panthers went into the locker room leading 27-22.

After getting fouled just 12 seconds into the third, Samantha Delaney made both free throws to make it a one-possession game, before Adelphi put together a 13-4 scoring run over the next five minutes that featured eight points from Clark in the paint and five from Gomez to push Adelphi's lead back to a game-high 12, 40-28. Clark also scored the final eight points for the Brown and Gold in the third period, off-setting nine points by the Purple Knights to keep Adelphi up by double-digits, 48-37.

Adelphi held a 20-15 scoring advantage in the final period, as Clark net 10 points and Julia Gnieser knocked down a three-pointer to account for the bulk of the scoring and close out the 68-52 victory.

Adelphi returns to action on Wednesday, January 13 when they travel to Bentley University for a 5:30 pm NE-10 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, 21 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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