New Haven, Conn. - The Adelphi University women's basketball team hit the road with an upset on its minds on Wednesday night, even holding a seven-point lead at halftime, but ultimately could not score a statement road victory over the first-place Owls of Southern Connecticut State University, falling 63-60 inside the Moore Fieldhouse.

With the defeat, Adelphi (12-15, 8-11 NE10) nonetheless continues to hold a half-game lead for the No.4 seed in the Northeast-10 Conference's Southwest Division for next week's playoffs, thanks in part to a 62-57 win for American International College over the fifth-place Golden Knights from the College of Saint Rose.

The Panthers, who have their season bye on Saturday, will remain idle until a 5:30 p.m. meeting with AIC in Garden City on Tuesday, Feb. 20, while the Golden Knights will host third-place Le Moyne on Saturday and welcome second-place Pace to Albany on Tuesday.

The top five teams from each division make the NE10 Championship field, but crucially, the No.4 seed from each division earns hosting rights for the first round play-in games, slated for a to-be-determined time on Friday, Feb. 23. 

In Wednesday night's contest, Adelphi took a 40-33 lead at halftime over the first-place Owls (19-8, 13-6 NE10) thanks to a furious end to the second quarter, as Fallyn Stephens sank two three-pointers in the half's final minute, including banking one in at the buzzer, for six of her team-high 15 points in short order.

Simone Hobdy had 10 of her 14 points in the first half, as Adelphi scored nine of the game's first 10 points, and responded to a 15-2 run by the Owls with an 11-0 run of its own as the first quarter rolled into the second.

However, Adelphi's first-half efforts were largely undone by a big third quarter for the home team, which saw the Owls score 17 of the 22 points in the period. A basket for Hobdy at the buzzer, Adelphi's second buzzer-beater of the night, sent the Panthers into the fourth down just five, and Stephens' triple with 8:36 remaining in the fourth was the first bucket for either side in the last frame.

Adelphi was unable to tie the game despite keeping the home team off the scoreboard for nearly five minutes to begin the fourth quarter, as Murphy Murad put in three of her game-high 16 points at the 5:36 mark on a layup and one for the Owls' first points of the period. Emily Miccile (13 points) responded with back-to-back buckets to pull Adelphi to within one from there, the closest the team had been since seeing its lead slip away, and again trailed by one at 57-56 as Niajah Morgan later drained a jumper with 1:50 remaining.

The Brown and Gold had a last-second look to tie the game after Paige Decker missed the second of two free throws and the ball found its way into Stephens' hands, but the NE10's leading three-point threat was unable to land what would've been her 67th bucket from deep this season to send the game to overtime.

Prior to Tuesday's game, the Panthers will honor seniors Hobdy and Natalie Fekula with a pre-game ceremony.

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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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