December 4, 2007

BRYANT SNEAKS BY No. 21 BENTLEY, 56-55, IN LAST-MINUTE THRILLER

Captain Lynne-Ann Kokoski's basket with ten seconds remaining gives Bulldogs second-straight win over rival Bentley College

Boxscore

JUNIOR CARA JOHNSON'S 15 POINTS LED BRYANT IN ITS 56-55 VICTORY TUES.

SMITHFIELD, RI - Bryant senior captain Lynne-Ann Kokoski's only basket of the day was the only one that mattered.

With just 10 seconds remaining in Tuesday night's faceoff between rivals Bryant University and Bentley College, Kokoski - the lone senior on a young Bulldog squad - converted on her last of nine attempts from the field to boost Bryant to a 56-55 upset win over the No. 21 Falcons at the Chace Athletic Center.

Backed by a crowd of 1,075 fans, the Bryant women's basketball team (4-2, 3-2 Northeast-10) started out on a tear, going on a 9-2 run to through the first six minutes of play on the back of a layup and a trey from junior guard Cara Johnson (Endicott, NY).

The Bulldogs upped the score to 20-11, helped in part by a series of Bentley (4-3, 3-2) turnovers and strong rebounding under the basket, with just over seven remaining in the half before the Falcons started to settle down, mounting a seven-point run that saw the Bulldogs go scoreless over five minutes of play.

Bentley would pull within two with four minutes left in the opening frame, but a long field goal by Adrianne Mayshar (West Boylston, Mass.) and two made free throws from Kokoski (Hatfield, Mass.) brought the Bulldogs back to a 24-18 edge.

Bentley would score just twice more before the half, and a three-pointer from Kim Brennan brought the score to within four with 13 seconds on the clock, but the Bulldogs entered the break with the 27-23 advantage over their nationally ranked rivals.

Both teams shot over 30 percent from the field in the first half. Bryant was led by seven points from Johnson, while Colette Josey's nine led the Falcons.

But no lead is safe when true rivalry is involved, and the Falcons came out to score five to open the second half, taking their first lead of the game just 1:30 into the second half, 29-27. Two Mayshar freebies brought the score back to even, and a Courtney Schermerhorn (Lowell, Mass.) 3-pointer regained the lead for Bryant.

But not for long. The teams would go virtually basket-for-basket, the Bulldogs leading by one through the first nine minutes of second-half play. A layup and free throw put the Falcons ahead, 44-43, for just their third lead of the game, one they would increase to 45-43 before Schermerhorn hit her third trey of the game to retake the lead for Bryant.

But with just 4:30 to play in regulation, the Falcons were finding their groove at just the right time. A field goal gave Bentley back the lead before an Ashley Bruton shot from downtown and a trio of layups gave the Falcons their biggest lead of the game, 54-46, with just 3:19 remaining.

Kokoski brought the score back to a 54-49 Bentley advantage from the free throw line with 2:44 to play, but the Bulldogs needed something big down the stretch. And they got it.

With just over two to play, Kelsey O'Keefe (Warren, Mass.) hit a layup to bring Bryant within three. Bentley converted on a free throw before O'Keefe came up with a big trey to make it 55-54 in Bentley's favor as the clock ticked from the minute mark into mere seconds.

With 23 seconds left and control of the ball, the Bulldogs looked to their leader for the biggest basket of the young season. And with the weight of a program on her 5-foot-4 frame, Kokoski was larger than life.

Getting the ball outside the arc to the right of the basket, Kokoski looked for options across the key before she stepped in, between the paint and the arc, and made good on a jumper with 10 seconds remaining to move the score to 56-55 - a score that would stick.

As the Bulldog bench crashed the court and their captain, Bryant clinched its sixth win over Bentley and second straight, also moving into a third-place tie with the Falcons in the Northeast-10 standings.

Johnson led the Bulldogs with 15 points, while O'Keefe's nine boards were a game-high. Colette Josey led Bentley with 17 points.

The two teams last met Feb. 3, 2007 also in Smithfield, where the Bulldogs pulled off a huge upset at the Chace Center, downing the Falcons, 63-51, for just the fifth time in program history and for the first-time ever in the regular season.

The Bulldogs next travel to Southern New Hampshire University to take on the Penmen Saturday afternoon at 1:30 pm. The Penmen and the Bulldogs split their series, 1-1, last season and Bryant is 20-9 all-time against SNHU.