ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Feb. 5, 2016) – Only a handful of games remain for the Molloy College women's basketball team in the regular season. The Lions are on the fringe of a playoff berth, with a lower seed likely to send the maroon and white away from home for the ECC Play-In Round. That said, the team's contest on Saturday (Feb. 6) versus District of Columbia is a necessary step for Molloy to make that charge to the postseason.
The Lowdown on the Lions
It's been a long lay-off for the maroon and white since the team's last contest against Saint Thomas Aquinas last Saturday (Jan. 30). But it was in the battle with the Spartans that the Lions delivered their most signature win of the 2015-16 campaign. Senior forward Kimani Jackson (Dix Hills, N.Y.) hit a go-ahead jumper with 10 seconds remaining and Molloy survived a last-second three-point attempt to knock off STAC, 58-55, at Quealy Gymnasium. Jackson and fellow senior Ally Leftridge (Melville, N.Y.) both scored 17 points in the Lions' win, improving the team's record to 6-14 with a 5-7 mark in East Coast Conference play.
Twenty-Game Checkpoint
Through the course of the season, Molloy has showcased effective defense (62.9 points allowed per game) while struggling with getting over the hump of winning close games (60.6 points per game scored). Ten of the Lions' contests were settled by fewer than ten points, with Molloy winning just two of those games. That includes a five-game stretch from Dec. 12-Dec. 31 in which the maroon and white lost by a combined 21 points.
Conference Postseason Picture
Molloy, with a 5-7 record, trails Bridgeport (5-6) by half a game for the No. 6 seed in the East Coast Conference standings. Bridgeport has a make-up date with Mercy towards the end of the season, and the Purple Knights will have four games in the span of a week from Feb. 20-27 with two against the Mavericks, one versus Queens College and one contest with Saint Thomas Aquinas.
Prior Meeting
Senior guard Alexia O'Connor (Centerport, N.Y.) had 18 points and junior forward Brianna Perlmutter (Brooklyn, N.Y.) had 11 points and 10 rebounds for Molloy in a Dec. 16 contest at UDC. But ultimately, the Firebirds utilized a 28-point fourth quarter to earn a 70-65 win in Washington, D.C. It was the fifth win in what would become a 13-game winning streak for UDC that ended on Jan. 31 versus Roberts Wesleyan.
UDC In Trouble?
DeWayne Burroughs' club has lost two straight games after starting the conference season with a 10-0 record in ECC play. UDC scored just eight points in the first quarter en route to a 75-47 defeat at Queens College on Thursday (Feb. 4). The Firebirds shot just 28.6% (18-63) from the field while going minus-18 (47-29) in the rebounding category.
Brandi from Boise
In the last matchup between UDC and Molloy, the Firebirds did not have junior guard Brandi Henton (San Jose, Calif.), who was a midyear transfer to the squad. Henton, who was the 2012-13 Mountain West Conference Newcomer of the Year at Boise State University, has made an immediate impact on the Firebirds in her nine games of action. She has averaged 17.9 minutes per game and scored 11.7 points per contest while shooting a 45.2% efficiency from the field.
Kollore Can Score
Senior guard Tajruba Baldwin-Kollore (Newport News, Va.) is among the East Coast Conference's best players, averaging 17.4 points per game (3rd in the ECC). Baldwin-Kollore has proven herself to be a guaranteed 10 points per contest, with her scoring under that mark in just one game this season. She is also proving to be a considerable force in the intangibles, with averages of 3.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game.
