Box Score NEWARK, Del. (Nov. 15, 2015) - A career-high 32 points from senior forward
Ally Leftridge (Melville, N.Y.) was not enough as the Molloy College women's basketball team dropped a close 77-74 contest in overtime to Wilmington at the ECC/CACC Challenge on Saturday (Nov. 14) at the Wilmington University Athletics Complex.
Molloy (1-1) opened scoring with a jumper by
Alexia O'Connor (Centerport, N.Y.) in the first minute of play but the Wildcats (2-0) ended the quarter with a 25-18 lead thanks to sophomore guard Emma Matthews (Smyrna, Del.) and red-shirt sophomore Zameria Jones (Joppa, Md.). The Lions held a 16-15 edge with a lay-up by
Aliyah McDonald (Hempstead, N.Y.) but Matthews and Jones combined to score Wilmington's next 10 points and held the visitors to just a free throw by both McDonald and freshman guard
Ihnacinse Grady (Amityville, N.Y.) to end the frame.
Jones started the second quarter with two free throws to put the Wildcats ahead by nine points at 27-18, but senior forward
Kimani Jackson (Dix Hills, N.Y.) responded with three straight makes from the charity stripe to bring the Lions within six. Molloy cut the deficit to five after buckets by Leftridge and Jackson, but Jones and Katara Pressley (Severn, Md.) responded by putting the hosts back up by a 36-27 edge midway through the second frame. The maroon and white got to within four with a minute to go as Jackson's layup cut the Wilmington lead to 42-38, but Matthews hit a jumper and the Wildcats went into the beak leading 45-38.
Leftridge took over the third quarter scoring Molloy's first nine points and getting the Lions within one at 48-47 with 6:29 to play in the third. Once again, though, the Wildcats would stay ahead as every time the Lions got to within a point, Wilmington had an answer. At 50-49 after a lay-in from
Brianna Perlmutter (Brooklyn, N.Y.), freshman center Jordan Hawkins (Glen Burnie, Md.) hit a basket to put Wilmington ahead by three. After Perlmutter hit a jumper to make it 52-51 with 4:36 to go, Jones collected a fast-break lay-up to make it 54-51. When Leftridge hit a jumper at the 3:19 mark to have the score read 54-53, Hawkins collected a lay-up and a free throw with a Matthews three-ball sandwiched between to put the Wildcats ahead by seven with under two minutes to go. Molloy ended the quarter on a 5-0 run thanks to Leftridge and Jackson lay-ups and a McDonald free throw, but Wilmington still led 60-58.
Trailing by two points heading into the last quarter of regulation, both teams struggled to find the bottom of the hoop for over three minutes until Jackson tied the score with a lay-up at 6:44. The Lions then pressed ahead with a 5-0 run as a McDonald lay-up tied the game at 64 later in the frame, and a Jackson free throw combined with a Leftridge bucket put Molloy ahead for the first time since the 1:57 mark of the first quarter. A jumper by Tenicia Spence (Baltimore, Md.) cut the lead to one at 67-66 but then senior guard
Alex Hampton (Baldwin, N.Y.) buried a three-pointer to give the Lions a four-point edge with just over a minute to play. The Wildcats were resilient as Hawkins hit a lay-up and then Jones sunk two clutch free throws with 37 seconds left to level the score at 70. McDonald could not hit a lay-up with 19 seconds to play but Wilmington's last-second jumper by Taylor Bolden (Windsor Mill, Md.) was off as well, sending the contest to overtime.
In the extra session, Jones and Leftridge traded buckets to begin the five-minute frame and keep the score level. Wilmington got a mini-spurt of four points on free throws by Jones and a lay-up by Hawkins, and Molloy responded with a Grady bucket at the 1:22 mark of overtime. A Bolden free throw put the Wildcats ahead by three with 27 seconds left to play, but the freshman missed the second freebie and Molloy still had a chance to tie the score again and potentially send the game to a second overtime. With about ten seconds left, Hampton got a decent look from beyond the arc but her aim was just a little off and Matthews pulled down the rebound to seal the victory for the hosts in a gritty early-season classic.
Leftridge was four points off the Molloy single-game record with a 13-for-25 performance from the field while Jackson added 14 points and five rebounds. O'Connor had seven points and 10 boards and Grady played well in her second career start with six points, eight steals, five assists and four rebounds. Off the bench, McDonald provided a spark with eight points and ten rebounds. Molloy shot 43% from the field, making 29 of 68 attempts but cooled off dramatically from three (4-14, 29%). Leading Wilmington was Jones with 25 points and Matthews with a double-double off the bench (13 points, 11 rebounds). Spence poured in 15 points and Hawkins had 13 and 9 for the Wildcats in the win. The rebounding margin favored Molloy by a total count of 48-47 and both teams committed 21 turnovers on the night.
Molloy will next head north to New England on Friday (Nov. 20) to play Southern New Hampshire in Manchester, N.H. at 6 p.m.
