Box Score OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. (Mar. 4, 2014) - On Tuesday evening, the fifth-seeded Molloy College women's basketball team ventured to Recreation Hall on the campus of the New York Institute of Technology for an East Coast Conference first-round playoff matchup against the fourth-seeded Bears. Despite double-digit deficits throughout the game, the Lions battled hard and even came within eight points of their opponents with three minutes to go in regulation, but ended up on the short end as NYIT defeated Molloy, 73-63, to advance to play at the top-seeded LIU Post on Thursday. The win improves NYIT's record to 18-9 overall, while the loss slips Molloy's ledger to 14-14.
Molloy struggled in the first half, shooting .371 from the field, and falling behind NYIT by as much as 18 points (41-23, 2:49 left). The two clubs would head into the locker rooms for the intermission with the Bears leading by a score of 45-31.
That lead fluctuated in the first 10 minutes of the second stanza, increasing to a 16-, 17-, and 18-point lead at times. However, the Lions continued to fight back. With just 3:25 left in regulation, Molloy trailed 67-50. The Lions then reeled off nine straight points to cut their deficit to eight. Freshman guard
Aliyah McDonald (Hempstead, N.Y.) had six of those nine points on a trio of layups. Sophomore guard/forward
Kimani Jackson (Dix Hills, N.Y.) had the other three points.
That would unfortunately be the closest the Lions came to making a comeback as the Bears made the necessary free throws in the final three minutes of the contest, locking down the 73-63 victory and an ECC semifinals matchup against the top-seeded LIU Post.
For Molloy, McDonald finished with 10 points to lead the team while senior guard
Kelly Guerriero (Floral Park, N.Y.) and junior guard/forward
Nicole Arnone (Staten Island, N.Y.) had nine each. Arnone also contributed nine rebounds, while Guerriero drained three treys in her final game as a Lion. Those three buckets from behind the arc gave Guerriero a total of 93 made treys, shattering the old program record of 68 (Randi Bender, 2007-08).
For NYIT, Dina Ragab scored a game-high 18 points and brought down 10 rebounds, while Demitra Apergis notched nine points, seven boards and seven assists. Maddison Campbell had 14 points and nine rebounds.
This concludes the 2013-14 season for Head Coach
Kate Lynch and the Lions. Stay tuned to
www.MolloyLions.com and @MolloyLions throughout the offseason for news, notes and updates pertaining to the women's basketball program.
