NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Result
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
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Jazmin Steele |
NYIT Tops Mercy College Women's Basketball 80-77
OLD WESTBURY, NY - Junior guard Jazmin Steele (Stoughton, MA) scored a game-high 20 points and freshman forward Delmara Reece (Yonkers, NY) recorded her fourth straight double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds, but it wasn't enough as the Mercy College women's basketball team fell by a score of 80-77 at NYIT on Wednesday. The Mavericks are now 2-6 overall and 2-3 in East Coast Conference (ECC) play. The Bears improved to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the league.
Steele hit on 6-of-10 from the field, including 2-of-4 from three point range, and went 6-of-9 at the free throw line. Reece connected on 7-of-10 from the field and 3-of-4 at the charity stripe. Junior guard Christina Baxter (Greenwood Lake, NY) added 16 points and dished out five assists for Mercy, while freshman forward Ashley Finnegan (Worcester, MA) chipped in 13 points, five boards, and three blocks.
Emily Bolling led NYIT with 19 points and Lauren Caggiano registered a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Madison Robertson scored 17 points and grabbed eight boards for the Bears.
The Mavericks held a 14-13 edge when they ran off 11 straight points, getting four from Baxter, to build a 25-13 lead just past the midway point of the first half. NYIT cut the deficit to six points before Baxter hit a late jumper to give Mercy a 39-31 advantage at the break.
The Bears seized momentum early in the second half by opening up with a 14-0 run, capped by a Brittany Smith layup with 16:55 to go, regaining the lead and stretching it to 45-39. After NYIT built the margin to nine at 54-45, the Mavericks began to chip away and knotted the game at 67-67 on a Baxter three-pointer with 6:17 remaining in the game.
The contest saw six lead changes and two more ties from there before the Bears went ahead for good at 73-72 on another layup by Smith. NYIT took a 78-74 lead with 14 seconds to go when Mercy made one more charge, getting a three-pointer from Steele in the closing seconds to pull within one, but a pair of free throws sealed the decision for the Bears.
The Mavericks will return to action on Saturday, December 15, when they travel to Felician for a non-conference game beginning at 1:00 p.m.
