Garden City, N.Y. -- An offensive rebound and putback from Kamalah Thompson as time expired ended the Adelphi University women's basketball team's season in heartbreaking fashion, as the Panthers fell in the NCAA Division II East Region semifinals, 59-58, to Molloy College.

The top-seeded Panthers (27-5), who took a 58-57 lead on a Sierra Clark basket with 11 seconds remaining, trailed for 34:23 in the contest and by nine at halftime, before staging a second-half rally that set the game up for a dramatic finish. Clark ended the game with a team-high 24 points and 12 rebounds for her 22nd double-double of the season, as she set a new Adelphi single-season scoring record (625) after 14 in the first half. Simone Hobdy and Calli Balfour combined for almost all their scoring in the second half to help spark the Adelphi rally, as Hobdy net 11 of 13 in the second 20 minutes and Balfour scored 11 of her 12. 

The Lions (24-8) beat Adelphi at its own game by hauling in 42 total rebounds -- the second-best total for an Adelphi opponent this season -- for a 42-36 margin on the glass, to reverse the result of the teams' regular-season meeting from Nov. 30, in which Adelphi took a 66-61 decision and held a 42-27 advantage in rebounding. The Lions advance to take on Queens College, the No. 2 seeds in the region, who defeated the University of the Sciences 77-67 with a trip to the Division II Elite Eight on the line. 

Back-to-back triples from McKayla Hernadez and Ihnacinse Grady gave Molloy a lead it would hardly relinquish in the contest early, as the Lions opened up an 8-4 edge en route to finishing the first period ahead by eight, 18-10. The visitors' lead grew to a game-high 10, 22-12, on a Thompson jumper with 8:43 remaining in the half, and although Adelphi cut the lead to five (22-17, 6:56) with help from Niajah Morgan's five points off the bench, the visitors' lead stood back at nine by the close of the first half of action. 

Unable to get a run going for much of the second half, both sides were scoreless for nearly four minutes of play in the third after Clark and Symone Kelly traded baskets to open the period. While a Clark trey again cut the deficit to five with 3:07 left in the period, the Molloy lead was quickly again back at nine, before Clark was fouled and sank a pair from the line to cut it to seven as the game headed to its final 10 minutes. The Brown and Gold was unable to take advantage of its trips to the line in the period, going just 3-8, a theme of the contest overall as Adelphi connected on just 52% of its free throws (14-27).

The first five points of the fourth went Adelphi's way, making it a one-possession game for the first time since the first quarter, as a 13-6 Brown and Gold run tied the game at 51-51 with Balfour sinking a three to tie the game for the first time since 2-2. Another Balfour triple made it 54-51 in favor of the Panthers, and the Brown and Gold continued to hold off the Lions until Kelly scored two thanks to a Thompson offensive board to bring the score to 57-56 with 31 seconds to play. On the ensuing trip down the floor after Grady missed both free throws, Clark corralled a Balfour miss and drove through traffic to give Adelphi the lead, 58-57 with just 11 ticks on the clock. 

Out of a timeout and advancing the ball, Molloy got the ball inside as Aliyah McDonald took a pull-up jumper that hit iron, but Thompson fought her way inside for the offensive board, getting the game-winning shot to fall at the buzzer to end Adelphi's season.

The Brown and Gold end its season as Northeast-10 Conference champions, having won both the Southwest Division regular season title and the tournament championship, and recorded 20+ wins for the third time in the past four years. 

NOTES
- Seniors Balfour, Clark and Sierra Schrader helped the team to a record of 96-29 over a four-year span, with three NCAA Tournament appearances and two NE10 Championship titles.
- Balfour graduates as Adelphi's seventh all-time leading scorer with 1,436 points, passing former teammate Kelly Mannix ('15) with her effort in her final game. 
- Clark's 1,251 points in three years as a Panther sit her ninth all-time. 

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About Adelphi Athletics:
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009 and in the past seven seasons, has collected 21 regular season conference titles, 25 tournament championships, 29 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 Presidents' Cup three times (2013, 2014, and 2016), while winning five NCAA Division II National Championships.

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