Garden City, N.Y. - On Tuesday night, the No. 10 Adelphi University women's basketball team sealed up home-court advantage in the NE10 Tournament with an 88-64 win over Southern Connecticut State University in Northeast-10 Conference action at the Center for Recreation and Sport in Garden City.
The victory also extended the Panthers' (26-2, 17-2 NE10) winning streak to 10 consecutive games, dating back to Jan. 22. Adelphi will host the winner of Friday's NE10 first-round game between AIC and Southern New Hampshire, on Sunday (Mar. 1) at the CRS at 2 p.m.
Prior to tip-off, the Brown and Gold honored their four graduating seniors --
Jess Camarda,
Leonie Edringer,
Mali Klorczyk and
Fallyn Stephens -- in a Senior Day ceremony, as well as departing Team IMPACT teammate
Bianca Onorato.
Despite leading by as many as 13 points in the first quarter and eventually trailing by a basket in the second quarter, Adelphi went into halftime with a 43-35 advantage.
Trailing 29-27 with less than seven minutes left before the break, the Panthers went on a 16-4 run to rally to a 10-point lead (43-33) with 34 seconds remaining.
Katie Murphy and
Emily Miccile each drove to the hoop for the game-tying and go-ahead lay-ups, respectively, while
Julia Strachan knocked down three consecutive treys to cap off the burst. Strachan finished the night with seven threes, en route to scoring a game-high 21 points off the bench.
In the second half, the Adelphi offense took over, outscoring Southern Connecticut (10-18, 4-15 NE10) by a 45-29 count over the final two quarters. The Panthers shot a sparkling 57.1 percent (16-of-28) from the field in the second half, which included a 6-of-11 mark (54.5 percent) from deep. The hosts' lead would grow to a sizable 25-point difference in the fourth quarter.
For the contest, Adelphi impressively hit on 15-of-30 three-pointers. It is the 16th time this year that the Panthers have knocked down double-digit three-pointers in a single game.
Four other players scored in double figures on the night for Adelphi. Camarda poured in 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field. Edringer collected 12 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. The latter of her two blocks, which came with 7:53 remaining in the game, was the 100th of her Adelphi career. Murphy posted her third double-double (12 poiints, 11 assists) of the season, to go along with five rebounds and four steals. Miccile added 11 points and nine rebounds. Stephens had a line of nine points, three rebounds and two assists.
During the regular season, the Panthers swept the season series from AIC and won a 92-90 double-overtime thriller against Southern New Hampshire at home on Jan. 11. AIC and SNHU will meet in their first-round game on Friday (Feb. 28) at 7 p.m. in Manchester, N.H.
