Box Score ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Jan. 27, 2016) – A spirited effort from the Molloy College women's basketball team fell just short as the Lions fell to the Mercy College Mavericks by a 57-54 final on Wednesday (Jan. 27) at Quealy Gymnasium. With the loss, Molloy drops to 5-14 overall and 4-7 in East Coast Conference play; Mercy improves to 6-11 and 3-7 with the victory in Rockville Centre.
A slow start confounded both squads for the first two-plus minutes of action until freshman point guard Ihnacinse Grady (Amityville, N.Y.) knocked down a jumper to put the Lions on the board first in the opening quarter. The maroon and white led 4-2 midway through the first when O'Connor scored on a hoop-and-harm and then added a lay-up to put Molloy ahead by seven points with 4:47 on the clock. Mercy's Latisha Clark (Peekskill, N.Y.) responded with a lay-up before the Lions ran off six straight points on buckets by Grady, junior Shantana Kanhoye (South Richmond Hill, N.Y.) and freshman Bridget Sharnick (Shelton, Conn.). It was a 15-4 lead for Molloy that became a 17-8 advantage to end the first period as O'Connor banked in an off-balance two-pointer before the buzzer sounded.
O'Connor and freshman guard Caitlin Sharnick (Shelton, Conn.) hit three-pointers to stake the maroon and white out to a 23-11 lead with two-and-a-half minutes gone by in the second quarter. Molloy continued to forge ahead, grabbing a 32-19 lead on a three-ball by sophomore forward Sabrina Rodriguez (Norwalk, Conn.) with 3:40 to play, but Mercy ended the quarter on a 5-0 run thanks to free throws by Clark and a trey from junior guard Paxton Reddington (Holmdel, N.J.) as the Mavericks trailed by 11 going into the locker room.
Momentum began to turn in favor of the visitors as a lay-up from senior center Deasia Goodson (Freeport, N.Y.) cut the Lions' lead to nine points at 39-30 with two minutes played in the third period. A steadfast Molloy club capitalized on a three-pointer by Grady to reclaim a 14-point advantage with six minutes to go in the period. The Mavericks, though, put themselves into fine position with a 9-0 run over the final 360 seconds of the quarter; freshman guard Chi-la Bady (Valley Stream, N.Y.) did most of the damage by scoring the final five points of the third frame with Molloy leading 44-39 entering the fourth quarter.
Perlmutter struck for the first two points of the final stanza with a jumper in the paint, but Mercy continued to scratch and claw back into the contest. Free throws by Bady and a three-pointer out of the hands of Casey Sullivan (East Lyme, Conn.) brought the Mavs within two points at 46-44 with 7:52 remaining in regulation. Perlmutter and Kanhoye answered with jumpers in keeping the Lions ahead, with the score favoring the hosts, 50-45 with six minutes to play. Mercy began to rally as Reddington hit a game-tying three-ball with 2:51 to play, knotting the score up at 51. A three-point play by Caitlin Sharnick was answered by a Sullivan treble with just over 90 seconds to play. Neither team would score for a full minute until Reddington knocked in a three-pointer on a broken play with the shot clock winding down and 33 seconds left on the game clock. Molloy was desperate for an answer at the other end, but Grady's attempt to send the game to overtime fell short at the final horn.
O'Connor had a team-high 13 points for the Lions, and the team won the rebounding battle by a count of 44-36. Two major keys for the maroon and white were Kanhoye (eight points, 16 rebounds) and Perlmutter (nine points, 14 rebounds) while Bridget Sharnick added eight points and three boards. Grady added seven points and four assists for Molloy in the loss. The Lions shot 35% (21-60) from the field but went 4-for-24 (16.7%) from three-point territory, and committed 16 turnovers (nine in the second half).
Reddington hit five threes en route to scoring a game-high 16 points for Mercy in the win, with Goodson (the reigning ECC and MBWA Division II Player of the Week) collecting a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds. Sullivan had 10 points off the bench while Bady added nine points, five rebounds and three assists. Mercy shot 34.4% (19-55) from the field but lit up Quealy Gymnasium from deep territory (8-18, 44.4%).
The Molloy College women's basketball team will host Saint Thomas Aquinas College on Saturday (Jan. 30) in a 12 p.m. start.
