Women's Hoops Soars Over Southern Connecticut, Claims Vital Road Victory
NEW HAVEN, Conn.- The Merrimack women's basketball team held on to defeat Southern Connecticut State 64-55 Tuesday evening at the Morse Field House. The Warriors improved to 8-9 overall and 6-7 in the Northeast-10 Conference with the victory. The Owls sink to 6-13 on the year and 2-12 in league action.
Tiffany Colon (Lawrence, Mass.) finished with a game-high 21 points on 4-for-5 shooting from downtown. Kelly Schatzlein (Tolland, Conn.) posted a double-double with 11 points and 11 boards on the night. Sarah Benischek (Shrub Oak, N.Y.) contributed nine points and pulled down nine rebounds in the win.
After falling behind 14-6 eight minutes into the game, Merrimack battled back to tie the score 22-22 on a midrange jumper by Schatzlein. The Warriors claimed the lead 24-22 in part to a pair of made free throws by Taneka Brown (Lynn, Mass.).
Back-to-back buckets by Lauren Allen granted Southern Connecticut a two-point edge with under four minutes to play in the opening half.
A layup by Schatzlein knotted the score at 26-26 with two minutes left to play in the half.
Two free throws by Colon with no time on the clock gave the Warriors a two-point lead at intermission, 30-28.
Schatzlein led Merrimack in the first half with seven points and five rebounds. Colon and Brown each contributed six while Gennifer Roy (Granby, Mass.) added five.
The Warriors shot 40.7% from the field while draining 87.5% of their attempts from the charity stripe. The Owls connected on 40% of their field goal attempts in the opening frame.
Colon and Benischek hit consecutive triples to give Merrimack a 10-point advanage with 12:30 remaining in the contest, 46-36.
A trey by Chelsea Shea (South Burlington, Vt.) pushed the margin to 13 in favor of the Warriors with just over 10 minutes to play in the second period.
With 2:30 remaining in the game and the home team on Merrimack's heels, Colon went to work on the post. The senior muscled into position and banked in a turn-around jumper to extend the Warriors' lead to six, 58-52.
Merrimack finished with a 36.8% shooting percentage from the field while connecting on 38.9% of its three-point attempts.
The Warriors owned 10-board spread on the glass, outrebounding the Owls 43-33 in the contest.
"The win was big for us since we haven't played well on the road. We'll need to keep up the intensity and level of play as we go forward. Overall, I thought we played well tonight even though we started a bit slow," said head coach Helen Williams.
Five days after traveling to New Haven, Conn., Merrimack will host the University of New Haven at Volpe Gym January 29.
