Women's Basketball Snaps Assumption's 12-Game Regular-Season Winning Streak, 77-56
Links: Box Score
WORCESTER, Mass. – The Merrimack College women's basketball team trailed just once on Saturday afternoon, handing Assumption College its first loss of the season, 77-56, and first blemish of Northeast-10 play. The win also snapped a 12-game regular-season winning streak for the Greyhounds
The Basics
Score: Merrimack 77 | Assumption 56
Records: Merrimack (5-3, 3-2 NE-10) | Assumption (7-1, 4-1)
Location: Laska Gym | Worcester, Mass.
What They Said
Head coach Monique LeBlanc: "Our team really stepped up on the defensive end of the floor, which we knew would be essential in order to beat a very good Assumption team. Chloe played a fantastic game on both ends of the floor for us, and that confidence spread throughout the team. Everyone who took the floor contribued and played their roles very well."
How It Happened
Assumption entered the contest undefeated on the season at 7-0, most recently upsetting No. 10 Stonehill. The Warriors came into Saturday's action with an impressive victory of their own, a come-from-behind victory over Bentley, 93-89, in overtime on Wednesday to defeat the reigning national champions.
Merrimack relinquished the lead just once in the first half, and the game was tied twice within the first eight minutes. Trailing 15-12, the Warriors surged on a 15-0 run, highlighted by 10 combined points from guards Ashley Weissmann (Highland, Calif.) and Chloe Rothman (Newton, Mass.). Over that span, the Greyhounds endured a scoreless drought of nearly five minutes.
With 5:11 remaining in the first stanza, Allison Stoddard made a jumper for the Greyhounds to cut the deficit to eleven points at 32-21. The Warriors scored the next nine points of the game to stretch the advantage to 20 points, 41-21, with 2:36 left in the half. Rothman scored five of Merrimack's nine points over that stretch. The 20-point advantage was Merrimack's largest of the half.
The Navy and Gold's 44 first-half points marks a season high and it was the fourth time this year that Merrimack has scored at least 40 points over the first 20 minutes. The Warriors are now 4-0 in those games.
The Warriors never loosened their grip in the second half. Rothman hit a three with 17:02 left in the contest to take a 20-point lead, 52-32. The advantage hovered around there over the next 4:17 of action, until freshman Stormee Van Belle (Sunnyside, Wash.) hit a layup with less than 13 minute to go to push the Warriors' lead to 21 points at 58-37. From that point on, Merrimack's lead would not dip below 20 points the rest of the way.
Defensively, Merrimack held Assumption to a season-low 56 points and 33 percent shooting from the field.
Additionally, the victory snaps Merrimack's six-game losing streak against Assumption, notching the program's first win over the Greyhounds since the 2009-10 season.
Inside The Numbers
- Rothman played spectacularly for the Warriors, scoring 29 point to lead the squad. She shot 10-for-15 from the field, including seven-of-nine from three-point range, finishing one point shy of her season high
- Junior guard Tia Scott (New York, N.Y.) posted eight points, eight rebounds and five assists. Those eight boards mark a career high for the third-year player
- Merrimack excelled on both ends of the floor. As a team, the Warriors shot nearly 51 percent from the field (29-for-57) and held Assumption to just 18-of-54 shooting
- It was a balanced attack for the Warriors, as every player took the floor and all but one scored for Merrimack
- Assumption's loss marks its first since last February against Franklin Pierce. The Greyhounds won their final five regular-season games last year before storming out of the gates to begin this year, defeating their first seven opponents.
Up Next
Merrimack will have the week off before returning to the court on Saturday afternoon to take on St. Michael's at 1:00 p.m. in the Warriors lone game at Hammel Court this month.
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