Box Score SPARKILL, N.Y. (Dec. 12, 2015)- The Molloy College women's basketball team fell to the St. Thomas Aquinas College Spartans 62-53 this afternoon at Aquinas Hall. The loss drops the Lions to 2-5 overall and 1-1 in ECC play while Saint Thomas Aquinas improves to 7-2 and an even 2-2 in conference competition this season..
The Spartans got out to a 2-0 lead at just 9:40 into the contest on a made lay-up from sophomore Adiya Henderson (Troy, N.Y.). The next few minutes of action featured six turnovers where neither team could convert on the miscues. The score remained 2-0 until the Lions took a 3-2 advantage on a three-point shot from senior forward
Ally Leftridge (Melville, N.Y.) with 7:04 left in the first frame. The Spartans answered with a jump shot from Samantha Burden (Westbury, N.Y.) to make it 4-3 in favor of the home side and the lead swelled to 9-3 after a three-point play from reigning ECC Rookie of the Year Jenna Erickson (Melrose, N.Y.) with 4:41 left in the quarter. The Lions cut into the deficit when senior
Kimani Jackson (Dix Hills, N.Y.) made consecutive lay-ups to make it 9-7 with 2:27 remaining in the opening period. Each time that the maroon and white had a moment to take the lead, though, Saint Thomas Aquinas answered. The home side would eventually lead 13-10 after one quarter of play.
Senior guard
Alexia O'Connor (Centerport, N.Y.) nailed a trifecta to give Molloy its first lead of the game at 18-16 with 7:18 remaining in the first half. Following consecutive lay-ups from Jackson and sophomore guard
Aliyah McDonald (Hempstead, N.Y.), the Lions found themselves ahead by six at 22-16 just a few seconds later. Back came Saint Thomas Aquinas on the strength of a three-ball from Erickson and two points in the paint from super sub Chelsea Murphy (Walkill, N.Y.) to claw within one at 22-21. Molloy ended the frame by outscoring the hosts 9-7 in the final six-plus minutes to take a 31-28 lead into the locker room.
Jackson led the Lions into the halftime break with 10 points on a 4-for-7 shooting performance, while Leftridge had five points and five rebounds. McDonald provided a spark off the bench to contribute six points and two assists. Both teams were particularly accurate shooting the ball in the opening twenty minutes, as Molloy shot 50% from both the field (12-24) and from downtown (3-6). STAC was equally as impressive in hitting 48% of its field goals and knocking down two three-pointers in three attempts.
In the third frame, the Lions got the scoring started as Leftridge made the first two buckets of the frame to increase the lead to a 35-28 margin. Molloy would keep the lead despite the best effort of Saint Thomas Aquinas until a shade over four minutes remaining when Kaitlyn McCue (Bergenville, N.Y.) leveled the score at 41-all on a lay-up in the paint. Following a Jackson lay-up thirty seconds later, Murphy hit three free throws to give STAC a 44-43 edge with 2:50 left to play in the third quarter. Molloy regained the lead on a Leftridge jumper at the two-minute mark, and then a free throw from both Leftridge and fellow fourth-year
Alex Hampton (Baldwin, N.Y.) put the Lions in front by three with under a minute to go. Murphy, though, proved to be a difference maker as she knocked down a game-tying three ball with 36 seconds remaining but the real dagger was yet to come. On the final play of the quarter, Burden would rattle home a two-pointer to give the hosts a 49-47 lead going into the fourth quarter of a tightly contested affair that was, unfortunately, about to get away from the maroon and white.
Saint Thomas Aquinas opened the final frame on a 9-0 run to put the game away fairly quickly. Henderson, Murphy and senior KC Sokolski (Elma, N.Y.) all hit field goals to put the Spartans up 55-47 with 7:17 remaining until Alyson Brennan (Hicksville, N.Y.) swished a back-breaking three-ball to give STAC an 11-point edge. The Lions were especially cold in hitting two field goals in 10 attempts over the final frame, as the maroon and white answered with a 6-2 run over the final six minutes of play, but it was not enough to secure the victory in Westchester County.
Leftridge and Jackson led the way for Molloy with 15 points apiece, while McDonald added 12 points off the bench. Leftridge also had a team-high eight rebounds, but the Lions as a unit were minus-13 (39-26) in the rebounding category. The Spartans were led by a brilliant 15-point performance from Murphy off the bench, while Erickson added 11. Henderson had nine points and eight rebounds in the win for Saint Thomas Aquinas, as well.
Head Coach
Joe Pellicane and the Lions return to action on Wednesday (Dec. 16) when they travel to our nation's capital to face off against the University of the District of Columbia at 7 p.m.
