Box Score WASHINGTON, D.C. (Dec. 16, 2015) – Despite six three-pointers and a team-high 18 points from senior guard
Alexia O'Connor (Centerport, N.Y.), the Molloy College women's basketball team was outlasted by a game UDC squad in a 70-65 Firebirds win at the UDC Sports Complex on Wednesday. Molloy falls to 2-6 overall and 1-2 on the East Coast Conference campaign, while UDC now boasts a 7-3 overall mark and an unblemished 3-0 record in conference competition.
The maroon and white traded buckets with the hosts to begin the contest until senior guard
Alex Hampton (Baldwin, N.Y.) nailed a three-pointer to give the Lions a 5-4 lead three minutes into the opening quarter. UDC took an 8-5 lead after back-to-back buckets from senior guard Taj Baldwin-Kollore (Newport News, Va.) but Molloy recaptured the lead on a two-pointer from
Ally Leftridge (Melville, N.Y.) and O'Connor's first trifecta of the half with 4:45 to play. The Centerport native would hit another triple to give the Lions a 15-13 edge one minute later, but UDC ended the quarter on a 7-1 run, punctuated by a quarter-ending three-ball from Tiara Goode (Brentwood, N.Y.) that gave the Firebirds a 20-16 lead going into the second frame.
Hampton opened the period with a three-pointer for the Lions to bring them within one and O'Connor hit her third trey of the game at the 8:01 mark to put Molloy ahead in the second quarter, 22-21. Junior forward
Brianna Perlmutter (Brooklyn, N.Y.) then converted a three-point play to give the Lions a four-point lead and she would hit another jumper to keep the maroon and white ahead by four points at 27-23 with 6:24 to play in the half. UDC cut the deficit to two until O'Connor connected on her fourth long-range jumper of the half to put the Lions up by five at 30-25 midway through the quarter. The Firebirds again responded with a rally as senior Iman Scott (Hagerstown, Md.) and junior Jaslynn Rollins (Ypsilanti, Mich.) scored six unanswered points to put the hosts ahead by one point. The last points of the half, however, would come from No. 30 for the visitors as O'Connor rained in yet another three-ball (her fifth of the opening 20 minutes) to put Molloy in the driver's seat of a 33-31 halftime score.
The second half began with a back-and-forth effort on both sides as Scott and Tatyana Calhoun (Disputanta, Va.) hit back-to-back lay-ups to put UDC ahead 35-34 in the first minute of action. Leftridge responded with a bucket to give Molloy the lead back seconds later, but Goode reclaimed the advantage for UDC at the 6:04 mark. With the Firebirds up 37-36, Leftridge again hit a two-pointer but this time sharpshooter Jenka Stiasna (Zvolen, Slovakia) scored the hosts' next five points to quiet Molloy for the moment. UDC led 42-38 with 4:47 to play on Stiasna's jumper, but the Lions looked to their seniors for help in keeping the game competitive. Leftridge and
Kimani Jackson (Dix Hills, N.Y.) did just that, scoring four straight points to level the game at 42-all with 3:51 remaining in the stanza. Hampton hit a driving lay-up 90 seconds later to give Molloy a 44-42 lead, and junior guard
Aliyah McDonald (Hempstead, N.Y.) ended the third frame with a lay-up to give Molloy a four-point lead heading into the final act of the game.
Determined to defend the UDC Sports Complex, Scott opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer to cut the Lions' lead to one at 46-45. On the very next possession and with ice water in her veins, O'Connor knocked down her sixth treble of the contest to give the maroon and white the four-point edge back with 8:37 to play in the game. Neither team would score for almost a full two minutes until Calhoun rattled home a bucket in the paint to bring the Firebirds back within two points. Then, Scott knocked in a three-pointer and was fouled, hitting the ensuing free throw for a rare four-point play to put UDC up two at 51-49 with 6:10 to play. Jackson leveled the score with a bucket but Stiasna swished home a three-ball to put the Firebirds up 54-51, but Perlmutter answered with a lay-up to make it a one-point deficit with under five minutes left. Calhoun and Perlmutter traded lay-ups and the hosts held a 56-55 lead with four minutes remaining in regulation.
The final 240 seconds of gameplay, however, favored UDC. Baldwin-Kollore hit two free throws and Stiasna launched a successful three-pointer to put the Firebirds ahead by six at 61-55 with 3:12 remaining. Perlmutter answered with a jumper, but Calhoun responded with two points of her own to make the score read 63-57 in favor of UDC with two minutes left in regulation. Following a three-pointer from freshman
Ihnacinse Grady (Amityville, N.Y.), Scott and Stiasna each made jumpers to give UDC a seven-point lead at 67-60 with 53 seconds to play. Jackson's three-point field goal seconds later put the Lions within four, but free throws decided the game as UDC hit three foul shots in the final 37 seconds while Molloy hit just two and the Lions were unable to cause a turnover for a game-tying attempt.
O'Connor led the Lions, tying a season-high for the team with six three-pointers made. The senior grabbed seven rebounds, dished out three assists and also made two steals in the game. Leftridge scored 12 points but was just 4-of-14 shooting from the field, while Perlmutter collected her first career-double double as a member of the maroon and white with 11 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.
Scott was effective for the Firebirds with a game-high 24 points on a night in which she shot 7-for-11 from the field and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line. Stiasna, who was held scoreless in the first half, added 15 points and found her stroke from beyond the three-point line (75%, 3-4) while Calhoun and Baldwin-Kollore each added 10 points for UDC in the win.
The teams were relatively even in the major statistics as Molloy shot 42% (24-57) from the field while UDC hit 41% (25-61) of its shots in the game. Both teams were lethal from deep range as Molloy hit 10-of-16 from three-point territory and UDC knocked in seven attempts in 14 tries from beyond the arc. The Lions were actually better from the free-throw line (78%-65%) than the Firebirds were, but the visitors committed 19 turnovers and the hosts capitalized with 19 points off of Molloy miscues.
Head Coach
Joe Pellicane and the Molloy women's basketball team now head from the national capital to the state capital of Albany as the Lions face Saint Rose on Saturday (Dec. 19) in the first game of the Saint Rose Holiday Classic. Tip-off from Western Avenue is set for 1 p.m.
