Sunday, December 28, 2008
BRYANT GETS BACK TO WINNING WITH
71-59 WIN OVER COLGATE SUNDAY, ADVANCES TO FORDHAM TOURNAMENT TITLE
GAME MONDAY AT 3 P.M.
Head coach Mary Burke picks up
250th career victory with first-round win
Boxscore
BRONX, N.Y. - The Bryant University women's basketball team
returned from the holiday break to earn its fourth win of the
season, advancing to the Fordham Holiday Tournament title game with
a 71-59 victory over Colgate University Sunday afternoon at the
Rose Hill Gym. The Bulldog win, led by 15 points apiece from
juniors Kelsey O'Keefe (Warren, Mass.) and
Courtney Schermerhorn (Lowell, Mass.), also marked
the 250th career victory for 18-year head coach
Mary Burke.
The 71-59 topping was the most points the Bulldogs (4-6) have
scored in a single game so far in the 2008-09 season, and it comes
as a result of one of the team's highest shooting percentages, as
Bryant shot 41.5 percent from the floor on the day.
Coming off a three-week break from competition, the Bulldogs
extended a three-point halftime lead into a decisive victory,
thanks to four players scoring in double digits for the first time
this season.
But Bryant struggled to connect though the game's first eight
minutes, allowing Colgate (2-9) to take a 15-7 edge, a run that was
broken up by a make from sophomore Lindsey Hudspeth (Mount
Laurel, N.J.) from beyond the arc.
Bryant found early success from long distance, knotting the
score at 16-16 with 8:53 to play in the first off a Schermerhorn
trey, the Bulldogs' fourth of the day.
Senior Cara Johnson (Endicott, N.Y.) got her
first points of the outing as the clock ticked under the two-minute
mark to cut a Colgate lead to one, 25-24, and the one-point deficit
remained until O'Keefe gave Bryant a 28-27 edge with 15 seconds to
play.
But a buzzer shot from Schermerhorn gave the Bulldogs a 30-27
advantage over the Raiders entering the half, tying their largest
lead of the frame.
The Bulldogs would live by the three in the first half, getting
four treys - one apiece from Schermerhorn, Hudspeth, O'Keefe and
Kristin Mraz (Johnstown, N.Y.) - at integral
moments during the first frame. O'Keefe and Schermerhorn paced
Bryant at intermission with seven points each, with a team-best six
rebounds coming from junior Jaime Campbell (Springfield,
Mass.).
In the second frame, the Bulldogs gave themselves an eight-point
lead with 13:28 remaining on the clock after Hudspeth's second long
ball of the afternoon, 45-37.
Bryant would then take its first double-digit advantage at the
6:35 mark, when sophomore Siamone Bennett (Newburgh,
N.Y.) converted a missed free throw into a layup for a
60-50 edge.
Mraz continued her strong game as the clock wound down, upping
the Bulldogs' lead to 12 points, 64-52, after tipping a pass out of
the air near midcourt and converting on the breakaway.
And while the game continued to be played tightly on the court,
the Bulldogs would not give much of that lead back, completing the
71-59 win despite hitting just 4-of-11 from the charity stripe in
the final 1:22 of the game.
O'Keefe posted a team-high 15 points on the day, while
Schermerhorn matched her total, hitting 50 percent of her shots
from the field (6-for-12, 2-for-4 from 3-point range). Mraz also
was strong from the floor, making good on 5-of-10 shots with one
coming from downtown for 12 points in the contest. Bennett recorded
double-digit scoring of her own, collecting 11 points and nine
boards for a near double-double.
Colgate's Sami Kozlowski paced the game with 16 points while
Patricia Oakes recorded the contest's only double-double with 12
points and 12 rebounds.
With the win, Bryant advances to Monday afternoon's tournament
title matchup against host Fordham University. Tipoff is at 3:00
p.m.
