Bentley Runs Away from Warrior Women in Second Half on the Road
WALTHAM, MA - The Merrimack women's basketball team ended their
two-game road trip 1-1 after falling to Bentley 80-57 on the road
Wednesday evening.
The loss drops Merrimack to 8-13 (6-10 NE-10) on the year, while
the Falcons improved to 15-6 (13-3 NE-10) this season.
Senior captain Casey Miller
(Fairbanks, AK) led the Warriors offense with 15 points
and also became the ninth all-time scorer in Merrimack women's
basketball history at 1,166, passing Eileen Brosnihan '05 and Deb
Cogan '84.
Junior Sarah Benischek
(Shrub Oak, NY) was the only other Warrior in double
figures as five Falcons scored 10-plus on the evening.
Much like in their 71-62 defeat of the Warriors in November,
Bentley and forward Katherine Goodwin again enjoyed success.
With a game-high 19 points on Wednesday night, Goodwin also led the
Falcons with a game-high 20 points back in the November match-up.
Despite six three-pointers and a 21-20 rebounding advantage in
the first half, Merrimack trailed at the break 37-30 to the
Falcons. The Warriors shot 50% (6-of-12) from long range, but
4-of-18 otherwise made it tough for the Warriors to get the offense
going.
Merrimack led by as much as four midway (10:21) through the
first half, but a 21-10 run to end the half left the Warriors
trailing heading into the locker room.
Miller led a balanced scoring attack for the Warriors in the
first half with a pair of threes as part of eight first half
points. With her first basket of the game, Miller passed
Brosnihan for 10th all-time and with her last passed
Cogan.
In the second half, Merrimack cut the lead to four (44-48), but
an ensuing 24-2 run by the Falcons over the next seven minutes made
no mistake about the outcome. A perfect 9-of-9 from the free
throw line and 17-of-20 in the second half for Bentley would
compound Merrimack's troubles on Wednesday.
"Despite the score, we still played hard and competed for 40
minutes tonight," head coach Helen Williams.
"One thing we do need to do is be more efficient on the
offensive end and close the rebounding gap."
The Warriors return to action on Saturday when they host Saint
Anselm College at 1:00pm in North Andover. On January
2nd in Manchester, Merrimack bested Saint Anselm, 55-44.
