Box Score ALBANY, N.Y. (Dec. 20, 2015) – Despite a nine-point second quarter from freshman point guard
Ihnacinse Grady (Amityville, N.Y.) and a 13-point, five-steal effort from senior
Kimani Jackson (Dix Hills, N.Y.), the Molloy College women's basketball team could not overcome a cold start to the second half from the field as Franklin Pierce won a 75-71 contest on Sunday (Dec. 20) at the Saint Rose Holiday Classic in Albany.
Molloy (2-8) attempted to get the first points of the game but Jackson's lay-up was blocked 22 seconds into the contest. Senior guard Natalie Bastian (Branford, Conn.) rained in a three-pointer from the far corner on the ensuing possession for Franklin Pierce (5-5), but
Alexia O'Connor (Centerport, N.Y.) answered with a three of her own to tie the score one minute in. The Lions then took a 7-3 lead on four consecutive points from senior forward
Ally Leftridge (Melville, N.Y.), but Franklin Pierce found answers from forwards Kara Charette (Fairhaven, Mass.) and Jasmyne Fogle (Bridgeport, Conn.). Fogle converted a three-point play to give the Ravens an 8-7 lead with 6:25 to play in the first quarter, but Molloy responded with a convincing 9-0 run to take a 16-8 lead with 4:36 remaining. O'Connor did much of the damage in the run as did Leftridge, who scored the Lions' final four points of the opening frame. The Ravens stayed close though thanks to the three-point game, as Sarah Middleton (Barrington, R.I.), Charette and Jemma Thacker (Aldgate, Australia) all hit shots from beyond the arc to keep Franklin Pierce within one at 20-19 going into the second quarter.
Franklin Pierce started the following period of play with five straight points on a lay-up from senior Dyamond Gardner (Cambridge, Mass.) and a treble from Thacker. The Aussie's three-point field goal gave the Ravens a 24-20 lead with 7:45 to play in the half, but it also started a run of long range conversions as the teams traded threes for the next minute of play. For Molloy, it also marked the beginning of a 9-0 personal run from Grady, as the Amityville freshman knocked down two treys and then created her own three-point play with a steal, hoop and harm, and free throw to tie the game at 29 with 5:17 to play. Jackson put the Lions back on top with a three-point play of her own seconds later, giving the maroon and white a 32-29 lead with 4:41 remaining in the half. Molloy would showcase the havoc-like defense that caused Saint Rose problems just a day before, forcing a number of steals late to take a 38-33 lead into the locker room. First, Leftridge stole a pass intended for a Franklin Pierce shooter and the play resulted in Grady feeding junior
Shantana Kanhoye (South Richmond Hill, N.Y.) for a lay-up to put the Lions up 34-33 with three-and-a-half minutes remaining. Fellow junior
Maggie Salomone (Narragansett, R.I.) then created a steal of her own at the midcourt line, forcing Bastian to commit a foul just a few seconds later. Jackson would end the half with four straight points as Molloy ended the first half with a 43.8% (14-32) mark from the field in the first half of play. The Lions also forced 11 Raven turnovers in the first half---with eight coming in the second quarter alone---and converted those free chances into 12 points.
The Lions started the third quarter shooting just 1-for-7 from the field, allowing Franklin Pierce to score five of the half's first six points to level the score at 40-all. Junior guard
Aliyah McDonald (Hempstead, N.Y.) hit a high lay-up to give Molloy a 42-40 lead with 5:54 to play, but Franklin Pierce scored six straight as Fogle, Middleton and Charette each put home lay-ups in the following 90 seconds. The maroon and white stormed back thanks to the play of junior forward
Brianna Perlmutter (Brooklyn, N.Y.) who scored four points in the final three minutes and added an assist. Perlmutter also hit a buzzer-beating lay-up to tie the score at 53 heading into the fourth quarter.
Neither team scored for the first 90 seconds of the fourth quarter until Salomone converted a tough lefty lay-up on a fastbreak pass from McDonald to give the Lions the two-point edge. On the defensive side of the ball, Perlmutter blocked a Bastian lay-up attempt with 7:26 to play but the Ravens took a 58-55 lead eight seconds later as Gardner knocked down a three-ball as the shot clock expired. That turned out to be the difference maker in the contest, as the Lions never regained the lead from that point forward. McDonald went coast-to-cast for a lay-up to bring the Lions within three points at 60-57 with 6:04 to play, and O'Connor drained a three-pointer with 4:26 remaining in regulation as Molloy trailed 63-61. Franklin Pierce would keep the Lions at bay as Charette scored four straight Ravens points, including a lay-up at the 3:19 mark of the fourth quarter to give the Ravens a five-point lead at 67-62. A three-point play from McDonald less than 30 seconds later brought the Lions back within two points, but the turnover game started to swing momentum in favor of the Northeast-10 representatives. The Lions gave the ball away a total of eight times in the final frame of action, and the Ravens also knocked down their free throws down the stretch to keep Molloy from getting close to tying the game. The Lions came within three points one last time as freshman guard
Bridget Sharnick (Shelton, Conn.) hit a corner three-ball with seven seconds remaining to cut the Ravens' lead to 74-71, but Charette iced the game with a free throw seconds later.
O'Connor and Jackson had a team-high 13 points for the Lions, while Leftridge added 12. McDonald chipped in nine points with 10 rebounds and seven assists, and Grady had nine points as well. Charette had a game-high 22 points for the Ravens and Bastian added 18 points for the Ravens in the win.
Molloy will host Caldwell University on New Year's Eve at Quealy Gymnasium in a 12 p.m. tip-off to close out the non-conference slate.
