Box Score FLUSHING, N.Y. (Jan. 12, 2016) – Three missed fast-break lay-ups in the third quarter coupled with an 8-0 Queens College run doomed the Molloy College women's basketball team to a 62-50 loss to the Knights at Fitzgerald Hall on Tuesday. Molloy drops to 3-11 overall and 2-4 in East Coast Conference play while Queens College improves to 6-6 overall and 3-3 in conference competition for the 2015-16 season.
Queens College opened the game on a 9-2 run off the strength of five points from sophomore forward Melissa Fumano (Syracuse, N.Y.). Fumano scored the game's first two points on a lay-up before hitting a three-pointer to give the Knights a 5-2 lead at the 8:12 mark of the first quarter. Fumano would knock down a 20-footer to give Queens an 11-4 lead before junior guard Madison Rowland (Albany, N.Y.) stole an errant pass and drove for a coast-to-coast lay-up, giving the hosts a nine-point lead with 5:42 to play in the first quarter. Down 13-4, Molloy ran off six straight points thanks to free throws by both Kimani Jackson (Dix Hills, N.Y.) and Shantana Kanhoye (South Richmond Hill, N.Y.) and an off-balance lay-up from senior forward Ally Leftridge (Melville, N.Y.) at the 3:22 mark of the first. But, Molloy would not score any more points as senior forward Elisabeth Gully (Rego Park, N.Y.) and Rowland scored the final seven points of the frame to give Queens a 20-10 lead going into the second quarter.
The maroon and white played a more aggressive second quarter in yielding just six points to the Knights while scoring 13 of their own to end the half down by three points. The Lions did so mostly thanks to junior guard Maggie Salomone (Narragansett, R.I.) who celebrated her 21st birthday with six points in the frame to go along with strong defense. The Lions were down by seven with 4:27 to play in the half before running off a 6-2 run that culminated in a half-ending lay-up from freshman point guard Ihnacinse Grady (Amityville, N.Y.). The third quarter started well for the Lions with a Jackson and Fumano trading buckets to open the frame and keep the Knights ahead by three points at 28-25. The teams would split the next eight points evenly with senior guard Alexia O'Connor (Centerport, N.Y.) knocking down a jumper off of an inbounds play to keep the Lions within three at 32-29 with 7:38 remaining in the quarter. From there, however, the Knights would take control by utilizing an 8-0 run that was part of a 12-6 stretch over the final seven-and-a-half minutes of action in the third quarter.
The Lions missed three fast-break lay-ups that could have easily given the maroon and white the lead, but Queens responded with six straight points from MacKenzie Rowland and a lefty lay-up by Fumano to put the Knights ahead by 11 points at 40-29 with 3:34 to play in the frame. Leftridge would knock down Molloy's first three-pointer of the game seconds later, but Madison and MacKenzie Rowland scored back-to-back buckets to give the Knights a 44-32 lead with 2:23 to go in the stanza. Leftridge hit a jumper and Jackson knocked down a free throw to end the third quarter and cut the hosts' lead to nine at 44-35.
Queens opened the fourth quarter on another 8-0 run to put the game on ice, with lay-ups by Madison and MacKenzie Rowland, junior guard Janeen McFarlane (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) and senior Kristen Korzevinski (New Hyde Park, N.Y.) in giving the Knights a 52-35 lead. Molloy would get as close as eight points when Jackson went coast-to-coast for a lay-up to cut the Queens lead to 56-48 at the 2:11 mark of the fourth quarter, but it would not be enough as the Lions left Flushing with the defeat.
Jackson had a team-high 17 points for the Lions, but she went just 5-for-15 (33%) from the field in the loss. Leftridge added 12 points on a 4-for-18 performance shooting-wise, and Salomone had eight points off the bench for Molloy. Kanhoye added five points and four rebounds, but the Lions shot just 29% (16-56) from the field and 2-for-9 (22%) from three-point territory. The maroon and white were efficient from the free-throw line in hitting 84% (16-19) of their attempts from the stripe.
The Knights were led by a combined 51 points from MacKenzie and Madison Rowland along with Fumano. Both Rowland sisters completed double-doubles, with MacKenzie scoring 18 and grabbing 10 rebounds while Madison had 16 & 16 for Queens College in the win. The hosts were plus-26 (52-26) in the rebounding category and converted Molloy's 18 turnovers into 22 points on the night. Meanwhile, Molloy could muster only nine points from the 25 giveaways out of the hands of the Knights.
The Molloy College women's basketball team will head to Connecticut on Thursday (Jan. 14) for a date with the University of Bridgeport Purple Knights at Hubbell Gymnasium. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m.
