Garden City, N.Y. - A well-rounded scoring effort from the Caldwell Cougars powered the visiting Cougars to a 67-49 victory of the Adelphi University women's basketball team in the penultimate home game of 2017 on Saturday afternoon inside the Center for Recreation and Sport.
Adelphi (5-7) was unable to overcome a 17-8 deficit after the first quarter and trailed for the duration of the contest, as the visiting Cougars (9-2) saw five players -- and four starters -- tally in double-figures.
Adelphi held Kristen Drogsler, the leading scorer for the Cougars and third-best in the Central Collegiate Athletic Conference (CACC) at 15.9 points per game, to just 3-for-15 shooting from the field and 1-for-7 from three-point range, forcing the senior guard to score nearly half her 13 points (6-for-8) from the charity stripe.
However, her Cougar teammates responded in a big way, as Andie Lennon shot 50 percent from the field for 14 points, while forward Karlie O'Driscoll also tallied 14 points off the bench on 7-for-11 shooting in 22 minutes. Point guard Sharelle Sanders facilitated the Cougar offense with 10 points, eight assists and seven steals, and Maura Kelty rounded out the group's effort with a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds.
For the Panthers,
Natalie Fekula fell one point and one rebound short of a double-double with nine points, nine rebounds, a block and a steal, while
Fallyn Stephens also scored nine with a trio of second-half three-pointers.
Simone Hobdy tied Fekula in the team lead for rebounds with nine, scoring seven points, while a bright spot off the bench came in the form of freshman
Morgan Staab, who scored a season-high seven points in just seven minutes of action.
A 9-0 run in the first period built the Cougars an early 14-4 lead and set the tone for the contest. Over the course of the first half, Adelphi cut the lead to as few as four, scoring nine of the first 13 points in the second period, as
Jess Camarda knocked down a three, and
Emily Miccile,
Niajah Morgan and
Julia Strachan all contributed baskets.
However, a 10-4 run for the Cougars to close out the half game them a double-digit lead which they hardly relinquished, and Caldwell later stamped its authority on the game with an 11-0 scoring sprint to begin the third quarter.
The Panthers look to close out their 2017 home slate with the victory in the next time out, as they host Bloomfield College in a 5:30 p.m. non-conference tilt on Monday, Dec. 18.
About Adelphi Athletics
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009, and in the past eight seasons, has collected 25 regular season conference titles, 26 tournament championships, 33 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 Presidents' Cup four times (2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017), while winning six NCAA Division II National Championships.
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