North Andover, Mass. - For the second time this season, the Adelphi University women's basketball team pulled off a stunning fourth quarter comeback on the road - and once again, freshman
Emily Miccile was at the center of it.
Playing just over an hour away from her hometown of Wrentham, Mass., the rookie tallied a season-best 17 points - 13 of which came in the final 10 minutes - to help key Adelphi in another dramatic victory.
She previously helped Adelphi erase a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit for another NE10 victory at American Int'l on Dec. 9, scoring 11 second-half points and the game-winning basket at the buzzer in a 72-70 decision.
The Panthers (9-8, 5-4 NE10) opened the game with a monster first quarter, holding Merrimack to one field goal on 16 attempts over the first 10 minutes, to build a 16-4 lead early in the game. However, nearly 20 minutes later, Brown and Gold found itself trailing by a game-high 11 ahead of its final possession of the third period.
A
Fallyn Stephens triple as time expired sent Adelphi to the fourth down eight, and Miccile's offensive explosion helped the Panthers outscore the hosts 23-12 over the final 10 minutes to steal its third road victory of the season.
Miccile led a quartet of Panthers in double figures, while Stephens sank four threes in the contest for the bulk of her 13 points.
Simone Hobdy (12 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists) and
Niajah Morgan (11 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, 3 steals) were forces on both sides of the ball, and despite being held scoreless for the first time this season, senior forward
Natalie Fekula chipped in 13 rebounds to tie a career-high and help the Panthers hold a 48-36 edge in rebounds in the game.
After a cold start, the Warriors' Lindsay Werner sank six of her seven baskets from behind the arc for a game-high 21 points, while Mason Kimball and Denia Davis-Stewart each tallied 12. Davis-Stewart was a force for the home team in the paint as well, hauling in a team-best 12 rebounds and blocking seven shots to flirt with a triple-double.
Merrimack helped pull closer after Adelphi's strong start with a 23-12 run of its own in the second quarter, making it a one-point game in the Panthers' favor at halftime (28-27). The home team took its first lead of the game since 2-0 on a Kimball layup with 6:07 remaining in the third at 37-35, and later used a 13-2 run over the next five-plus minutes to take its 11-point lead at 48-37.
Miccile scored the first six for the Panthers in the fourth, as buckets for Morgan and
Katie Murphy helped extend Adelphi's opening run to 10-3 to make it a one-point game with 3:49 remaining at 51-50. However, an eight-point swing for the Warriors restored a three-possession lead at 59-50, as Werner capped the run with a deep step-back three.
From there and out of a timeout, Adelphi's defense stood tall to ensure that Werner's triple was the last made field goal for the Warriors in the contest. The Panthers forced two turnovers and two one-and-done possessions for the home team, the last of which saw Miccile block a three-point effort from Werner - the NE10's leading shooter from deep - with the Panthers ahead 61-60.
The Panthers return home on Saturday, Jan. 13 when they host the Purple Knights of Saint Michael's College in a 1:30 p.m. conference contest.
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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