Ward's Career High Paces Women's Basketball Past Nyack, 78-46, Saturday Night
Links: Box Score
NYACK, N.Y. – The Merrimack College women's basketball team concluded the 2014 calendar year with a convincing, 32-point victory over Nyack College for its fifth consecutive win. The five-game winning streak ties the longest during the tenure of head coach Monique LeBlanc.
The Basics
Score: Merrimack 78 | Nyack 46
Records: Merrimack (8-3, 4-2 NE-10) | Nyack (1-9, 1-3 CACC)
Location: Nyack, N.Y.
How It Happened
Outside of three one-possessions within the first five minutes of the game, the Warriors led the entire way against their opponents from the CACC on Saturday night.
Senior forward Aria Johnson (Los Osos, Calif.) scored the first two points of the game, but then Nyack scored the next five to take a 5-2 lead. The Navy Gold also trailed by one point at the 15:58 mark of the first half, but after that they never looked back.
After a quick spurt of five unanswered points to take an 11-7 advantage, the Warriors really began to take control of the game. With the score at 20-16 with 10 minutes remaining in the half, the Navy and Gold went on a 8-0 run, taking a 12-point lead with 7:53 left. Over that stretch, senior Chloe Rothman (Newton, Mass.) totaled back-to-back three-pointers. She entered the game leading the team by connecting on over half of her shots from long distance.
With 3:46 left the half, Nyack rode five straight points to cut Merrimack's lead to two at 29-27. The Warriors proceeded to end the half on a 9-0 run, holding Nyack to a nearly four-minute scoreless drought to end the half.
In the second half, Merrimack simply took over. The Warriors began the second stanza on a 17-0 run, taking a 55-27 advantage. Nyack did not score until there was less than 13 minutes remaining in the game. The scoreless drought for Nyack lasted nearly 11 minutes, spanning the end of the first half and the beginning of the second.
The Navy and Gold won by a margin of victory of larger than 30 points for the second time this season. Center Madison Ward (Binghamton, N.Y.) posted a career high of 15 points in the game, including 12 points in the second half on four-of-four shooting. Ward scored Merrimack's final five points, leading to a 78-46 victory.
Inside The Numbers
- Sophomore Caitlyn Garger (Hicksville, N.Y.) led the Warriors with 16 points. The sophomore connected on seven-of-13 field-goal attempts
- Rothman tied Ward with 15 points, making five-of-eight from the field, including three makes from three-point range. She also added seven boards and five assists in an efficient 20 minutes
- Senior Ashley Weissmann (Highland, Calif.) posted a stat line of nine points, four rebounds and a career-high five steals
- The Merrimack defense was extremely effective, holding Nyack to just 27 percent shooting from the field (16-59)
- The Warriors had a significant edge on the glass, outrebounding Nyack, 47-28, which led to 11 second-chance points
Up Next
The Warriors don't return to the court until the 2015 year, when Merrimack will resume Northeast-10 action against Southern New Hampshire on Saturday, January 3, at 1 p.m.
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