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Press Releases | |
November 20, 2003
Lady Colonials Defeat Bryant and Head Into Their First NYCAC Game
Women’s Basketball Downs High-Ranked Bulldogs, 55-52Contact:
Seth Hurley (pr@liu.edu)
631-287-8313Southampton, NY — The Lady Colonials improved their record to 1-1 on Wednesday by knocking off the Bryant Bulldogs (1-1), 55-52, in the second game of the season. Bryant opened the season ranked No. 5 out of 15 teams in the Northeast-10 Conference poll, but that number didn’t matter to the hard-nosed Southampton College women as they went on to set some high standards for the upcoming year.
In just their second NCAA contest, Southampton’s two highly recruited freshmen, Sarah Mahan and Leah Getz, overcame their game-one jitters and stepped it up to lead the Lady Colonials to victory. Mahan scored a game high 20 points while Getz put on an equally impressive show scoring 11 points, pulling down four rebounds, and grabbing five steals. This was Getz’s second-straight game in which she scored in double digits going back to her 10 points in the season opener against St. Anselm’s. Another key player in the victory was senior Jamie Podjed who put in 11 points and dished out four assists.
Though they pulled off the victory, the scoreboard was not always in the Lady Colonials favor. The game began with Bryant jumping to a 20-7 lead, and things looked bleak for Southampton. The Colonials came back with a 17-2 run, cutting Bryant’s lead down to 22-20 after a Mahan layup with 53 seconds left. In the last minute of the first half, senior co-captian Katie Kenny hit a free throw, and Podjed hit a driving layup at the buzzer to send the Lady Colonials into the locker room with a 23-22 lead.
In the second half, the Lady Colonials led by as much as seven points, 29-22, but Bryant started to heat up after trailing the first 20 minutes. Bryant senior Mary McConnell scored all of her 14 points in the second half, and her three-pointer with 6:34 remaining gave the Bulldogs a 42-40 lead. Then, only three minutes later, she put the Bulldogs up 44-42 with a pair of free throws. Southampton hit six straight free throws down the stretch to clinch the win.
The Lady Colonials shot 39.1 percent from the floor, and compared with Bryant’s 28.1 percent it would prove to be too much to handle. The Bulldogs had one last chance to tie the game with only six seconds left, but a three-pointer by freshman Joanna Skiba rimmed out and Southampton was victorious. Bryant had a 19-12 record last year and were Eastern College Athletic Conference playoff finalists.
Southampton College heads into their first conference match-up against Mercy at home on Saturday, Nov. 22 with a 1-1 record and high hopes for the rest of the season. If the team plays like it did against the tough Bryant squad, and the two freshman recruits put up numbers like they have been so far, the team expects a playoff berth.