Box Score
Waltham, MA – The #7 women's basketball team took on the top seeded Falcons of Bentley College in the Northeast-10 quarterfinals earlier this evening. Despite taking a 12 point lead at the half, the Panthers fell victim to a 62 point second half Falcon surge which proved to be just enough to close the books on Adelphi's season. With the 89-80 loss, the Brown and Gold conclude their 2012-13 season with a 15-13 record while Bentley advances to the NE-10 semi-finals with a 26-1 mark.
Off the bench, Ifeanyi Ofili led four other Panthers in double figures with a career high 18 points on 8-14 shooting from the field in just 24 minutes of action. Sade Jackson drained 17 points and had an all-around solid game with seven assists, three blocks and as many steals while Jessica Kitrys did her part with 16 points on 6-11 shooting. Kelly Mannix registered her fourth double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
As a team, the Panthers shot 45.6 percent from the field (31-68) and pulled down 28 boards.
The Falcons also had five players in double figures with Lauren Batista and Courtney Finn tallying 21 points apiece and combining for 14 rebounds. Jacqui Brugliera pulled down a game high 11 boards and drained 19 points for a double-double effort while Kelsey Robertson added 10 points of her own.
The Falcons shot 47.6 percent from the field (30-63) and won the battle on the boards, pulling down 45 missed shots.
Adelphi fell behind by five in the early stages, missing their first three attempts from the field and made just one of two of their early attempts from the charity stripe. At the 10:29 mark, a Battista triple made it a seven point Falcon lead which would be their largest of the half.
However, two back-to-back triples and a layup from Ofili brought the Panthers to within one at the 8:24 mark with the scoreboard reading 20-19 in favor of the hosts. Samantha Milhaven's layup on the ensuing possession gave Adelphi their first lead of the game. From there, the Brown and Gold unleashed an impressive 18-7 run to close out the remaining 7:31 and take the 39-27 lead at halftime.
In the second, the Panthers clung to a 16 point lead early on thanks to Kitrys' jumper at the 17:49 mark. However, Bentley unveiled a crippling 28-5 run on an impressive 12-17 shooting from the field while a triple by Mannix and a layup from Jenna Halliby were the only points the Panthers would see during the 7:37 span.
A Jackson free throw and Ofili layup temporarily stopped the bleeding, but Bentley blossomed their lead to 10 on five separate occasions. A converted three-point play by Jackson cut the deficit to seven with 3:47 remaining. Mannix's two made free throws and a Jackson trey with 47 seconds left to play made it a five-point affair at 85-80.
Battista and Christiana Bakolas made good on each of their two free throw tries while Jackson and Mannix both missed on their attempts from behind the arc in an effort to pull even as they ran out of time and suffered their 13th loss of the season.
This year marked the highest amount of wins the women's basketball program has seen since the 2006-07 season when the Panthers totaled 16 victories. Additionally, they registered their first NE-10 Tournament win since joining the conference in 2009-10.
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