Women's Basketball Wins Third Straight With Win Over Adelphi
NORTH ANDOVER, MA – Winning their fifth over the last six
and three straight games, the Merrimack women's basketball
team knocked off Adelphi University Saturday afternoon, 66-62.
With a team-high 15 points from junior Sarah Beniscek
(Shrub Oak, NY), the Warriors improved to 7-9 (5-6 NE-10)
on the season and earned the program's best six-game stretch
since 2004-05 when the Warriors won 11 of 12 to start the
season.
1st Half
With three of five first half threes in the first seven minutes,
the Warriors jumped out to a 19-11 lead as all five starters
scored. Sophomore Genn Roy (Granby,
MA) led all Merrimack scorers with nine points, including
six on long range shots.
Merrimack would lead by as much 10 in the first half on a jumper
from junior Tiffany Colon
(Lawrence, MA) while using an 11-4 advantage in second
chance-points.
Casey
Miller (Fairbanks, AK) added eight of her own in the
half to go with two steals which both led to fast break layups for
the senior who inched closer to 11th on the all-time scoring list.
Finishing the afternoon with 13 in the game and 1,104 career
points, Miller needs just 33 to catch Morgan McEwen '02 at
1,137 career points.
2nd Half
With an 11-5 run to start the second half, Adelphi took their
first lead of the game just over five minutes into the second
stanza. Seventeen points from Kara Tancredi led all scorers and the
Panthers to seven second half ties, but 27 Merrimack points off
turnovers kept the visitors from their first Conference win of the
year (2-13, 0-12 NE-10).
Freshman Kelly Schatzlein
(Tolland, CT) also chipped in 13 points and eight boards,
while Roy rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10.
“We're really showing that we can put an entire 40
minutes together,” said head coach Helen Williams following
her team's third straight win. “We've found a way
to win [these past few weeks] because of our solid defense and
sound decision-making on offense.”
The Warriors took care of the ball with a season-low 10 turnovers,
while forcing 18 Panther turnovers.
The Warrior women return to the court at home against the College
of Saint Rose (6-9, 5-5 NE-10) on Wednesday, January 16 at 5:30pm.
A year ago the Warriors split the season series with the Golden
Knights, having won the most recent match-up, 78-70, on February 18
in Albany in their last regular season road game.
