Box Score ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Dec. 31, 2015) – Senior forwards
Kimani Jackson (Dix Hills, N.Y.) and
Ally Leftridge (Melville, N.Y.) combined to score 31 points on a 14-for-30 (47%) performance from the field, but the Molloy College women's basketball team lost a nail-biting 61-60 affair with Caldwell University on Thursday (Dec. 31) at Quealy Gymnasium in Rockville Centre. The Lions end the 2015 portion of their season with an overall record of 2-9, while Caldwell improves to 8-5 with the victory.
As has been the case for most of the season, the maroon and white got off to a fast start from deep range as Leftridge scored the game's first three points in the first minute of the contest. The Cougars answered with buckets in the paint by sophomore Sharell Sanders (Dorchester, Mass.) and freshman Caroline Dunn (Denville, N.J.) but Molloy went on a 7-0 run to take a 10-4 lead midway through the first quarter. The Cougars answered with seven straight points of their own but Molloy got the better of the opening stanza. Leftridge and Jackson scored jumpers around a three-ball by senior
Alexia O'Connor (Centerport, N.Y.), giving the Lions a 17-13 lead as the first quarter came to a close.
Freshman point guard
Ihnacinse Grady (Amityville, N.Y.) opened the second quarter of play with a three-pointer to give Molloy its largest lead of the contest at 20-13 with 8:12 remaining in the first half. The Cougars then responded with threes by guards Andie Lennon (Secaucus, N.J.) and Antoinette Pilla (Scarsdale, N.Y.) to cut the Lions' edge to three with six minutes to go in the second frame. After free throws by senior
Alex Hampton (Baldwin, N.Y.) put Molloy up five at 24-19, the Cougars went on a 12-4 run to claim the first-half lead. Specifically, sophomore forward Maura Kelty (Barrington, R.I.) had seven of her team's points in giving the visitors the 31-28 halftime advantage going into the locker room.
Leftridge and Dunn traded jumpers to open the second half, but Caldwell soon grabbed its largest lead at 38-31 thanks to sophomore guard Kristen Drogsler (Middle Village, N.Y.) scored five straight points to give the Cougars the seven-point edge with 7:11 to play in the third quarter. Back came the Lions, though, with buckets by Leftridge, Jackson and
Shantana Kanhoye (South Richmond Hill, N.Y.) midway through the third quarter of play. Caldwell opened a seven-point edge once again as Lennon and Karlie O'Driscoll (Sharon, Mass.) hit three consecutive shots and took a 44-37 lead with three minutes even on the clock. Leftridge responded with a jumper at the end of the quarter following a Kanhoye rainbow three-ball as the Lions trailed 46-44 after three periods of play.
Kanhoye opened the fourth and final act of the dramatic New Year's Eve contest with a game-tying jumper in the first 16 seconds of play. O'Driscoll and Drogler hit back-to-back buckets to put the Cougars up four at 50-46 with 8:18 remaining, but Grady would hit a three-pointer less than two minutes later to bring the Lions within one. Following a Dunn jumper in the paint, long-range specialist
Maggie Salomone (Narragansett, R.I.) buried a trifecta to tie the score at 54 with five minutes to go, eliciting a roar of approval from her teammates and a packed Lions' Den. The visitors answered back with two straight points, including a backbreaking runner by Pilla that beat the shot clock and put the Cougars ahead 58-54 with 3:14 to go in the game. Jackson answered with a two-pointer following a free throw make by
Aliyah McDonald (Hempstead, N.Y.) as the maroon and white drew within one with under 90 ticks remaining on the clock. Pilla hit a fast-break lay-up following a turnover with 34 seconds to play as Caldwell took a three-point lead at 60-57. Following a missed lay-up by the Lions, Drogsler hit one of two free throws giving Caldwell a four-point advantage. Down the court went Molloy as Jackson hit a three-pointer with two-tenths of a second remaining on the clock, but the Cougars quickly inbounded the ball as time expired to drop Molloy to its fifth straight loss.
Leftridge had a game-high 17 points for Molloy while Jackson added 14 points of her own. Grady collected nine points with four rebounds while McDonald added six assists to go along with three points of her own. Kanhoye provided a nice spark off of the bench with seven points and five rebounds, as the South Richmond Hill native hit all three of her field goals in 12 minutes of play.
Leading Caldwell was Drogsler with 12 points as Pilla added 11 for the Cougars in the win. Dunn collected eight points of her own while O'Driscoll had eight points and eight rebounds off the bench. Kelty scored seven points with seven boards, while Sanders registered seven points, six assists and four rebounds on the afternoon.
Molloy lost despite shooting 44% (22-50) from the field and a blistering 8-for-16 (50%) from three-point territory. Free throws, turnovers and rebounds provided the major disparities in statistics going against the Lions. Molloy shot just 57% (8-14) from the free throw line and committed 19 turnovers, with the maroon and white also minus-five (35-30) in the rebounding battle.
The Lions will open the New Year on Wednesday (Jan. 6) with an East Coast Conference home contest versus LIU Post. Tip-off from Quealy Gymnasium is set for 5 p.m.
