Box Score ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Jan. 9, 2016) - A 28-point third quarter brought the Molloy College women's basketball team within two points of the top team in the East Coast Conference on Saturday. Ultimately, though, it was not enough as NYIT yielded just seven points in the final ten minutes to complete a wire-to-wire 70-56 victory over the Lions at Quealy Gymnasium.
NYIT (11-5, 6-0 ECC) utilized a strong scoring attack over the first half of the contest, combined with an aggressively staunch defensive effort to take a 38-21 lead into the locker room. The Bears opened the game on a 15-2 run over a four-minute span, hitting seven of their first eight shots in that stretch as well. Senior forward Dina Ragab (Cairo, Egypt) had six points through the run while sophomore guard Nina Vukosavljevic (Belgrade, Serbia) collected four points and dished out three assists as well. Molloy (3-10, 2-3 ECC) scored five unanswered points to get within eight, as seniors
Kimani Jackson (Dix Hills, N.Y.) and
Alex Hampton (Baldwin, N.Y.) collected all of the Lions' offense until the later stages of the first quarter. Junior guard
Shantana Kanhoye (South Richmond Hill, N.Y.) knocked down a three-pointer at the 1:41 mark of the opening frame to cut NYIT's lead to ten at 24-14, and Jackson hit a jumper in the paint to end the first quarter with the score favoring the Bears, 24-16.
The Lions, however, went increasingly cold from the field in the second quarter to the tune of a 1-for-14 effort (7.1%) shooting field goals. Molloy's only made bucket in the second was a lay-up by senior
Ally Leftridge (Melville, N.Y.) that cut NYIT's lead to 12 at 32-20. The Bears were able to quickly respond thanks to a three-ball by Julie Williams (Smithtown, N.Y.), and the visitors held a seventeen-point edge after one half of play. NYIT dominated nearly every facet of the first half, shooting 53% (17-32) from the field and 33% (3-9) from three-point territory. The Lions, meanwhile, had just eight made field goals and compiled a 26% field goal percentage, with Kanhoye's three in the first quarter marking the only damage Molloy did from deep in the first half. The maroon and white were also dominated on the boards, with NYIT holding a plus-eight (23-15) advantage on rebounds.
In the third quarter, the Lions seemingly awoke from their first-half slumber by opening the frame on a 15-8 run. Senior
Alexia O'Connor (Centerport, N.Y.) buried a three-pointer at the 7:35 mark to bring Molloy within 42-30, and later freshman point guard
Ihnacinse Grady (Amityville, N.Y.) converted a fast-break lay-up off of a Vukosavljevic turnover to get the score to 46-36 in favor of the Bears. A Leftridge trifecta with 3:35 remaining cut the lead to single digits for the first time in the second half at 47-39, and the senior would close the quarter with another trey to put Molloy in a great position, down 51-49 heading to the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately, even-numbered quarters seemed to be the nemesis of the maroon and white on Saturday as the Lions went 3-for-13 (23.1%) from the field over the course of the final ten minutes. Molloy got as close as 55-54 off of a Kanhoye lay-up, but NYIT closed the final frame on a 15-2 run. Junior forward Shannon Duer (Islip, N.Y.) hit a jumper before Shanice Allen (Riverhead, N.Y.) and Vukosavljevic buried back-to-back, back-breaking three-balls to put the game way for the visitors.
Molloy was led once again by Leftridge, who scored 15 points despite shooting 6-for-20 (30%) from the field. The senior did pull down a team-high seven rebounds, while Jackson added 14 points, three blocks and two steals. Kanhoye and Hampton each added seven points off the bench for the Lions in the losing effort.
For NYIT, Ragab had a game-high 27 points with ten rebounds, while Duer pulled down ten boards to go along with 11 points. Allen collected 10 points off the bench and Vukosavljevic had a colorful stat line with five poitns, four rebounds, eight assists and eight turnovers.
The Molloy College women's basketball team will face the other half of last year's East Coast Conference Championship contest on Tuesday (Jan. 12) as the Lions head to Flushing, N.Y. to take on Queens College.
