#21 Assumption Pulls Away from Women's Basketball, 54-47, Behind Late Fourth-Quarter Run
Links: Highlights | Box Score
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College women's basketball team overcame an 11-point halftime deficit to tie its matchup with the No. 21 Assumption Greyhounds late in the fourth quarter, but the visitors ended the game on a 7-0 run to come away with a 54-47 Northeast-10 victory from Hammel Court.
The Basics
Score: Assumption 54, Merrimack 47
Records: Merrimack (6-7, 2-5 NE-10) | Assumption (10-2, 6-1 NE-10)
Location: Hammel Court | North Andover, Mass.
How It Happened
Merrimack struggled out of the gate, as the Greyhounds score the game's first six points and ended the first quarter with a 19-8 advantage. Senior Caitlyn Garger (Hicksville, N.Y.) made her season debut after missing the first half due to injury. She score Merrimack's first bucket of the game, making her first attempt of the season.
The Warriors began the second quarter on an 8-2 run to cut it to a five-point game, 21-16, with seven minutes to play in the opening stanza. Senior center Madison Ward (Binghamton, N.Y.) scored four of the eight points while Garger added two more. The Greyhounds answered with six consecutive points, holding the Navy and Gold scoreless for nearly six minutes, and entered the half with a 32-21 lead.
In the third quarter, Merrimack held the Greyhounds scoreless over the first 3:44 of the second half to make it a seven-point game. Later in the quarter, freshman Hannah Neild (Litchfield, N.H.) drilled a three-pointer to make it 35-30 Assumption with less than four minutes remaining. Merrimack made it a one-possession contest at 40-37, but Allison Stoddard hit a triple on Assumption's last possession of the frame to make it a six-point lead entering the final 10 minutes.
Layups from Ward and senior Tia Scott (New York, N.Y.) along with free throws from Neild and Ashley Weissmann (Highland, Calif.) tied the game at 40-all as the Warriors scored the first six points of the fourth. Assumption responded with three straight points, all from the free-throw line, but a jumper from Garger made it a 43-42 game with 6:12 to play.
Facing a five-point deficit, the Navy and Gold went on a 5-0 run spurned by three straight points from My'Asia Alston (Cohoes, N.Y.) to tie the 21st-ranked team in the nation at 47-all with just 4:06 remaining.
The Greyhounds pulled away from there, scoring the final seven points of the game and holding Merrimack scoreless over the final four minutes of the game to pick up their 10th win of the year. The Warriors fell to 6-7 with the loss.
Inside The Numbers
- Garger scored nine points in 28 minutes off the bench, playing the first game of her senior campaign. She attempted a team-high 13 shots as she entered the season as Merrimack's leading returning scorer after averaging nine points per game in 2014-15
- Ward scored in double figures for the sixth time this season after her 12-point performance, which led the team. She also pulled down a season-high five offensive rebounds, and finished with seven total caroms
- Kelly Carey led the Greyhounds with 16 points, making 5-of-10 from the field including a trio of three-pointers
- Both teams displayed strong defensive structure, with neither squad shooting better than 33 percent. Assumption connected on six triples compared to only one three for the Navy and Gold
Up Next
The Warriors travel down to West Haven, Conn. on Wednesday afternoon to take on the University of New Haven in their first game against the Southwest Division. Tipoff is slated for 1 p.m.
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