Women's Basketball Suffers 58-50 Defeat at Bentley
Links: Box Score
WALTHAM, Mass. – The Merrimack College women's basketball team fell behind early against the Bentley University Falcons on Tuesday evening and could never work its way back into the game, falling by eight, 58-50, on Tuesday from the Dana Center. The defeat eliminates Merrimack from postseason contention.
The Basics
Score: Bentley 58, Merrimack 50
Records: Merrimack (13-14, 9-12 NE-10) | Bentley (22-5, 16-5 NE-10)
Location: Dana Center | Waltham, Mass.
NE-10 Postseason Outlook:
The top five teams in the Northeast Division advance to the NE-10 Championship, with the fifth seed playing the fourth seed out of the Southwest in the opening round. Stonehill advances over Merrimack due to its victory over Saint Anselm earlier this season.
1) Bentley (15-5)
2) Saint Anselm (14-7)
t3) Assumption (11-10)
t3) Franklin Pierce (11-10)
5) Stonehill (9-12)
6) Merrimack (9-12)
7) Southern New Hampshire (8-13)
8) Saint Michael's (4-16)
How It Happened
Seven points from Megan Lewis contributed to a 15-8 start for the Falcons after seven minutes of action to begin the game. Senior Tia Scott (Harlem, N.Y.) scored six of the Warriors' first eight points to keep the visitors in striking distance. With one minute to play, Ashley Weissmann (Highland, Calif.) converted an up-and-under lay-in to make it 17-10 Falcons at the one-minute mark, but two Falcons free throw made it 19-10 after 10 minutes.
Weissmann started the second with a triple, but Macchi Smith answered with a three-point play on the Falcons' next possession. Jane White's baseline jumper made it 24-13 Bentley with 6:51 left in the half, its first double-digit lead of the night. A 5-0 run from Bentley pushed the lead to 29-17 Falcons, capped off by a Trevena Bennett three in transition.
The Falcons took a 33-23 advantage into halftime. Madison Ward (Binghamton, N.Y.) led the Navy and Gold with eight points, while Weissmann finished with seven and three rebounds.
The second half started with a 7-0 run for the Warriors, which included a trey from Weissmann, to make it a 33-30 game less than two minutes into the third quarter. The team's traded baskets over the next five minutes, with the score reading 39-33 following a Merrimack timeout at the 2:31 mark of the quarter.
Lauren Green's stepback three-pointer with 1:35 left pushed the Falcons advantage back to nine, 42-33. Savannah Johnson (Palmdale, Calif.) buried a six-foot jumper as the buzzer sounded to make it a seve-point deficit entering the final quarter.
In the first 46 seconds of the fourth, Jen Gemma and Kristin Brown converted three-point plays to make it a 48-35 game. Scott and Weissmann combined for the game's next six points, however, bringing the deficit back to seven points with 6:30 remaining.
After neither team scored for over three minutes, a triple from Caitlyn Garger (Hicksville, N.Y.) with 3:08 remaining extended the Warriors run to 9-0 and cut the deficit to four, 48-44. After four straight points from the Falcons, Scott's three-point play made it a 52-47 game with 1:26 remaining.
The Warriors appeared to have a force a shot-clock violation but a desperate heave from Smith banked in from beyond the arc. Scott took the ensuing inbound and raced the other way for her second straight three-point play, making it a 55-50 game. The Falcons hit three more from the line to make it a 58-50 final.
Inside The Numbers
- Scott and Weissmann combined for 33 of Merrimack's 50 points. The former finished with a team-high 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting, while the latter made a trio of three-pointers to contribute to her 15 points
- Scott totaled five rebounds, four assists and three steals. She ends her Merrimack career with 496 career assists, good for second all-time at Merrimack. She finishes the season as the NE-10's leader in assists (182)
- Gemma finished with 20 points to lead all scorers, while Lewis contributed 12 as well for the Falcons, who clinched the regular-season division title entering the night
- Merrimack shot just 29.7 percent from the field, while the Falcons connect on 37 percent of their attempts. Both teams turned the ball over on 22 occasions
- The Falcons had a decided advantage in terms of bench scoring, netting 18 points from their reserves
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