ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Feb. 29, 2016) - For the four seniors of the Molloy College women's basketball team, Wednesday will mark the second time they have ever played in a postseason basketball contest. For every other member of the Lions, it is the first taste of play-off basketball in their collegiate careers. The maroon and white got into the East Coast Conference Tournament by winning its final two games, including a stunning upset of Roberts Wesleyan on Saturday (Feb. 27) in the final game of the regular season. The Lions finished the year 12-16 overall, but an 11-9 conference record was bolstered by a win over top-seed NYIT and a four-game winning streak to close out the season on a high note.
For Roberts Wesleyan, a play-off game was never in doubt. But the Redhawks definitely could have wanted more. Two weekend losses to Queens and Molloy cost Gary Andrews' club a chance at a first-round bye, meaning the team that started the year with nine straight wins and ended the campaign with a 22-6 record will have to win one more game than expected to reach the NCAA Tournament...in only its second year of eligibility. While Roberts was here last year---as a No. 3 seed hosting its first-ever ECC play-off contest, which would end in bitter disappointment---the Redhawks are back for vengeance in a do-or-die contest that will determine a semifinal match-up with the NYIT Bears. The Bears, ironically, lost just two ECC games all year: one to Molloy and one to Roberts Wesleyan.
The two games that featured these combatants went via split decision, as both programs each won a game. In the first meeting of the season back on Jan. 23, the turnover battle effectively indicated the victor of the contest. Roberts Wesleyan and Molloy both shot well enough to claim the game (34.3% for the Redhawks, 35.6% for Molloy), but 10 miscues by the Lions led to 12 points for Roberts in a 68-58 win at the Voller Athletic Center. On Saturday, it was an even ratio in the turnover category but a chilly field goal percentage from the visiting Redhawks (25.5%) and a ten-point fourth-quarter advantage that guided Molloy to the victory, 55-49.
Molloy and Roberts Wesleyan will meet for the ninth time in the last four years on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in Rochester. The series so far is split at an even four games apiece, but this will be the first-ever play-off meeting between the two schools in any sport. Bragging rights and a trip to Washington, D.C. will be on the line as the fourth-seeded Redhawks play host to the fifth-ranked Lions in the ECC Play-In Round with so much, truly, at stake.
