January 28, 2009
BULLDOGS SNAP LOSING STREAK WITH 66-62 WIN OVER NJIT AT HOME
WEDNESDAY NIGHT
Boxscore
SMITHFIELD, R.I. - Junior co-captain Kelsey O'Keefe
(Warren, Mass.) earned her fourth-straight double-double
while senior co-captain Cara Johnson (Endicott,
N.Y.) rediscovered her scoring stride as the Bryant
University women's basketball team snapped a four-game losing
streak to take a 66-62 win over NJIT at the Chace Athletic Center
Wednesday night.
The Bulldogs (6-12) saw a 14-point second-half lead dwindle down
to just two points in the final five minutes of the contest but
held on for an important win to get back on track before a
four-game road stretch.
Despite a lead late in the game, the Bulldogs started off slow,
allowing visiting NJIT (5-14) to take a five-point edge, 7-2, four
minutes in. But Bryan would get back to even at 15-15 with 8:11 to
play off a shot from Johnson from downtown.
The game would stay close the rest of the frame, but a 3-pointer
from Jill Dickinson with 1:16 showing before the break gave the
Highlanders a four-point advantage, 25-21, and the Bulldogs would
score just one more point off a Stephanie Fontaine
(Franklin, Mass.) free throw to enter halftime down,
25-22.
But Bryant tied it back up at the 14-minute mark, 33-33, with a
3-pointer from O'Keefe off a Shannon Wood (Gorham,
Maine) dish. It was the first of
back-to-back-to-back-to-back treys from the Bulldog side - the
others coming from sophomore Lindsey Hudspeth (Mount
Laurel, N.J.), another from O'Keefe and one from Johnson -
to give the home team a 42-33 advantage.
Two more freebies from Fontaine topped off a 16-2 run that
handed the Bulldogs a 44-35 lead with 10:53 left to play.
Bryant earned its first double-figure lead with just over seven
minutes to play off a Wood long ball to make it 51-40 and would
eventually build a 14-point lead with 5:27 remaining.
But as the clock ticked under the four minute mark, the
Highlanders - despite seeing three starters foul out on
three-straight plays - began to chip away at the lead, getting it
down to four points, 59-55, with 1:29 on the clock and down to just
a pair, 61-59, with 40 seconds to play.
The score would again go to two with just five seconds on the
clock, but a foul from Ivana Seric would send O'Keefe to the line
to ice the game, sinking a pair from the stripe to seal a 66-62
victory.
The Bulldogs shot over 48 percent in the second session to
overcome a halftime deficit after shooting 36 percent in the
opening frame. Bryant outrebounded NJIT, who shot 33.9 percent on
the day, 44-32 but committed 24 turnovers to the Highlanders' 18.
O'Keefe led the game with 24 points and a game-best 10 rebounds
for her fourth-consecutive double-double and seventh of the season.
Johnson also got back in the scoring stride with 14 points.
Sophomore Siamone Bennett (Newburgh, N.Y.), while
getting into early foul trouble recorded a season-high four blocks
on the night.
The Bulldogs now hit the road again for a four-game road trip
with their first stop in the Pittsburgh area for a pair of contests
versus future Northeast Conference opponents Saint Francis (PA) and
Robert Morris University.
