Women's Basketball Downed by Southern NH, 82-67
MANCHESTER, NH – In their final Conference game of the
calendar year, the women's basketball team dropped an 82-67
decision Tuesday evening in Manchester to Southern New Hampshire
University.
With the loss, the Warriors fall to 2-7 (1-5 NE-10) on the year,
while Southern New Hampshire improves to 6-4 (4-2 NE-10) overall.
Senior captain Casey Miller (Fairbanks, AK) led
the Warriors scoring with 17 points, while junior Taneka
Brown (Lynn, MA) came off the bench to score a career-high
12 points. Miller, with her sixth straight double digit
game, is now within eight points of scoring 1,000 in her career at
Merrimack.
1st
Half
In the early going, the Penmen jumped out to a 17-9 lead thanks to
three triples from Libby Cullerot against the Warriors two-three
zone in the first seven minutes. Cullerot would end the first half
with 14 points, 12 of which came from long range and a game-high 20
points to match teammate Sloane Sorrell's 20 points.
Both teams would go cold for the ensuing five minutes as each
team combined for eight turnovers and the Penmen out-scored the
Warriors 4-2. Southern New Hampshire's man-to-man defense
proved troublesome for Merrimack in the first half as the Warriors
shot 33% from the field, below their season average of 40%.
The Warriors would go on a 10-0 run over a 2:32 span late in the
first half, including back-to-back threes from Benischek and Miller
to pull within three, but a last second heave from Jenny McDade
from beyond the arc made the lead six at the half (34-28).
2nd
Half
To start the second half, the Warriors fell behind 39-28 before
Genn Roy (Granby, MA) drove the lane for
back-to-back layups to narrow the lead to nine. Unfortunately for
the Warriors, that would be as close as they could come to the
Penmen, while Roy would foul out with eight minutes to play.
Upon Roy's departure, Merrimack faced an insurmountable
lead of 16.The Warriors would pull to within 13, but 52% shooting
(16-for-31) from the field by the Penmen in the second frame gave
the home team the run-away lead. The 82 points allowed by Merrimack
is the second most the Warriors had allowed this year to a
Conference foe.
Southern New Hampshire has now won four straight in the series
history dating back to the 2007-08 season.
The Warriors continue their six-game road trip when they head to
Kentucky on December 21 for the Bellarmine University tournament
against the Fighting Scots of Edinboro (PA) University at 6:00pm.
