Philadelphia, Pa (Nov. 11, 2017) – The Molloy women's basketball team fell to the Chestnut Hill Griffins, 55-46, in its season opener Saturday afternoon in the East Region Conference Challenge at Jefferson. Sophomore
Kathryn Gibson (Neponsit, N.Y.) netted a game-high 22 points, and junior
Ihnacinse Grady (Amityville, N.Y.) recorded a double-double (13 points and 10 rebounds) in the loss.
Chestnut Hill (1-0) jumped out to a quick 6-1 advantage. The Lions answered with a three-pointer from Gibson and a layup from Grady to knot the score, 6-6. The Griffins went back ahead, 9-6, on three from Caroline Gehring. Sophomore
Maya Joyner (North Babylon, N.Y.), who finished the game with 6 points, hit a jumper in the final minute to cut Chestnut Hill's lead to 9-8 at the end of the opening quarter.
The Griffins extended its lead to 16-11 midway through the second quarter. Molloy went up, 17-16, on back-to-back triples from junior
McKayla Hernandez (Windermere, Fla.) and Grady. After Chestnut Hill netted the next four points, Joyner made a layup to shrink the lead to 20-19 at the half.
Chestnut Hill opened up a six-point lead in the third quarter, 29-23. But like it did all game, Molloy fought back. The Lions went on an 8-1 rally, led by three points from Grady and Gibson, to take a 31-30 lead, but the Griffins tallied the final two points of the stanza to take a 32-31 edge at the end of 30 minutes.
The maroon and white went up 35-32 on consecutive buckets from Gibson. Down a pair, Gibson, who logged 16 points in the second half, hit a three to put Molloy back up, 38-37. The teams went back and forth until the contest was tied at 44. The Griffins ended the game on an 11-2 run to secure the win.
The Lions return to action tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 12) when it plays host Jefferson. Tip-off with the Rams is slated for 2:00 p.m.
