SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Erin Murphy (Albany, NY) scored 14 points and Lauren Rubenoff (New Hartford, Conn.) and Joanna Skiba (Providence, RI) each had 10 but it was not enough as the Yellow Jackets of American International College pulled away to defeat the Bryant women, 62-48 in the Northeast-10 Conference opener Tuesday night. 

AIC (3-0, 1-0 NE-10), picked to win the NE-10 in the preseason coaches poll, held a decisive 54-26 rebounding edge and won despite shooting 35.9 percent from the field for the game as Krystal Pressley (New Haven, Conn.) led all scorers with 15 points including three 3-point field goals.
Leading 32-24 at the half, AIC opened the second half with a 7-2 run to lead 39-25 in the first minutes.  A pair of free throws from Skiba followed by a turnaround bucket from Rubenoff helped pull the Bulldogs to within 13 at 49-36 with 10:09 left.

The Yellow Jackets would continue to hurt the Bulldogs inside.  A pull up jumper in the lane from Sharmion Selman (Burlington, Vt.) made it 51-36 while minutes later, a put-back from Stacy Boisvert (Agawam, Mass.) made it 55-38 and the Yellow Jackets would hold on from there.

Bryant (1-1, 0-1 NE-10) kept it close in the first half as Erin Murphy (Albany, NY) scored in the lane and was fouled on the play while freshman Alyssa Michella (Washington, NJ) pulled the Bulldogs to within 28-24 with a 3-pointer with 3:24 left.  But AIC held the Bulldogs to 27.3 percent shooting from the floor in the first half and took a 29-18 rebounding edge into the locker room at the break. 

Murphy had four rebounds and three assists while Rubenoff led the Bulldogs with nine boards.  Abby Lesneski (South Portland, Maine) had eight rebounds in the game for Bryant – six coming on the offensive end.  The Bulldogs travel to Albany, NY this Sunday for an NE-10 game at 1:30 p.m. 

BOXSCORE
Bryant (48)
Skib 3-9 2-2 10, Kokoski 1-12 0-2 3, Peper 1-3 0-0 2, Lesneski 2-8 0-0 4, Murphy 5-12 2-4 14, Rubenoff 3-11 4-4 10, Sauck 1-2 0-0 2, Michella 1-5 0-0 3. Total 17-62 8-12 48.
AIC (62)
Pressley 6-13 0-0 15, Rubino 1-6 0-0 3, Boisvert 4-7 1-2 9, Selman 6-15 0-0 12, Wooten 1-7 4-4 6, Mousette 0-0 0-0 0, Johnathan 1-2 0-0 2, Nnanna 2-6 4-4 8, Lawrence 0-1 0-0 0, Sampson 2-7 3-4 7. Total 23-64 12-14 62.
Halftime 32-24.  3-point FG – Bryant 6-22 (Skiba 2, Murphy 2, Kokoski 1, Michella 1).  AIC 4-15 (Pressley 3, Rubino 1).  Rebounds – Bryant 36 (Rubenoff 9), AIC 54 (Wooten 14).  Assists – Bryant 10 (Skiba 4), AIC 14 (Rubino 7). Att – 199.