Saturday, February 07, 2009
BULLDOGS STRUGGLE AGAINST STRONG
QUINNIPIAC SQUAD, FALL, 66-49, SATURDAY AFTERNOON ON ROAD
Boxscore
HAMDEN, Conn. - The Bryant University women's basketball team
struggled to find its shot against an aggressive Quinnipiac team
Saturday afternoon, falling to the Bobcats, 66-49, at the TD
Banknorth Sports Center despite the ninth double-double of the year
from junior Kelsey O'Keefe (Warren, Mass.).
Bryant (6-15) needed time to get into a rhythm early in the
first half, costing them an early deficit, 19-11, with 11:39 to
play in the frame.
Miscues, both forced and unforced plagued the Bulldogs - they
would end the game with 25 turnovers - who fell behind by double
figures with 8:43 left in the opening frame, 24-13, off a Brianna
Rooney 3-pointer. Quinnipiac (13-8) upped its advantage to 14
points on Mandy Pennewell trey of her own 1:20 later.
With 6:09 showing, sophomore Lindsey Hudspeth
(Mount Laurel, N.J.) broke up a 10-0 Bobcat
scoring run with three points from downtown to make it 29-16 in the
home team's favor, and a change in personnel - the addition of
freshmen Lekia Cowen (Hopedale, Mass.) and
Brittany Stahura (Amsterdam, N.Y.) - gave the
Bulldogs a bit more life and enough push to make up five points for
a 31-22 hole with 3:13 to play in the opening session.
But the Bobcats would outscore the Bulldogs 5-2 in the final
three minutes to send the visitors into the locker room down,
36-24.
Bryant saw less-than-par shooting in the first frame, hitting
just 26.7 percent of shots to Quinnipiac's 42.9 percent success
rate. The Bulldogs were also outrebounded in the half, 24-19.
O'Keefe led Bryant in the first 20 minutes, nearly recording a
first-half double with nine points and nine boards.
Out of the intermission, junior Courtney Schermerhorn
(Lowell, Mass.) cut the Bobcats' lead to 43-35 with her
first points of the contest, a three from the right corner, with
15:37 to play.
But from there, Quinnipiac would go on a 10-2 streak through the
nine-minute mark to run the score to 53-37.
The Bulldogs wouldn't make up any ground through the frame's
12th minute, falling behind by 20 points, 62-42, and would keep the
deficit through the game's final buzzer, falling in their
fourth-straight contest, 66-49.
O'Keefe led the Bulldogs in scoring with 13 points and pulled
down 12 boards for her second-consecutive and ninth double-double
of the season and was the only Bulldog to score in double figures.
Bryant shot 32.1 percent in the second half for a 29.3 shooting
percentage on the day.
The Bobcats were led by 18 points from Erin Kerner, while Mandy
Pennewell notched her own double-double with 17 points and 10
rebounds. The teams matched up on the glass in the end, 41-41,
while Quinnipiac shot 39.1 percent for the outing.
The Bulldogs wrap up their current road trip with a 7 p.m. bout
with NEC opponent Monmouth University on Monday, Feb. 9.
