Garden City, N.Y. -- Despite erasing a double-figure deficit in the fourth quarter, the Adelphi University women's basketball team was unable to come all the way back and fell to Southwest Division-leading American International on Tuesday night, 61-59. Prior to the contest, the program honored the senior class -- Lauren Nuss, Tara Flynn, Samantha Brenner and Ashley Gomez -- playing in their final regular season home game.

Gomez and Nuss accounted for 30 points as a duo in the contest, as they tallied 16 and 14 respectively, with Nuss shooting 4-8 from behind the arc. Although the Adelphi (17-11, 10-10 NE-10) defense held AIC's leading scorer, Brianna Bishop, to just six points on 2-10 shooting, the Yellow Jackets (23-4, 16-4 NE-10) got a team-high 14 points from Ebony Easter behind a perfect 5-5 shooting (3-3 from three) and double-doubles from both Dana Watts and Kamika Mason. 

The Panthers got off to a hot start in the first quarter -- as their first four field goals were all three-pointers from Nuss, Gomez, Calli Balfour and Julia Gnieser -- to lead 12-6 with 4:37 remaining. However, the Yellow Jackets responded in a big way, scoring the last 13 points of the quarter to lead 19-12 at the end of the first 10 minutes. The visitors held that lead for the duration of the second quarter, with the Panthers pulling to within one at 25-24. In the final minute of the second period, Gomez scored five points for the Brown and Gold to put the Panthers in the locker room down by just four, 32-28.

The Brown and Gold carried that momentum to start the third as two from Balfour and a deep three from Flynn in the first 1:07 put Adelphi back on top, 33-32 -- and they led again, 36-34, off another three-pointer from Nuss with 7:29 to play in the quarter. Another long scoring run for the first-place Yellow Jackets followed, however, as the visitors held Adelphi off the board for a 15-0 run from that point to open up a 53-39 gap, before Gomez put in the final bucket of the quarter with five seconds remaining to snap the skid. 

The Brown and Gold rocketed out to a 12-2 scoring run to begin the fourth period, as the Panthers pulled themselves back into the game with hot shooting and strong defense to trail by just two, 55-53, at the five-minute mark. Although Adelphi continued to trail, they crept to within just one twice, with Gomez putting in a layup for two to bring the score to 60-59 with 1:13 remaining. After Imani Stepney made one of two at the line with just 16 seconds on the clock, Adelphi advanced the ball with a chance to win the game; however, Flynn's final three-point attempt for the win hit iron, allowing the Yellow Jackets to escape with a 61-59 victory.

Despite the loss, Adelphi clinched an NE-10 Tournament spot as the #5 seed in the Southwest Division, and will begin postseason play this weekend at #4 NE Franklin Pierce at a time to be determined. 

NOTES
- The Panthers dropped both meetings against American International this season after defeating them to win the NE-10 crown last year.
- Adelphi has reached the NE-10 Tournament in four straight seasons under Head Coach Heather Jacobs.

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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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