Women's Basketball Edged by #15/17 Bentley, 59-53, on Senior Night from Hammel
Links: Box Score | Game Highlights
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College women's basketball team gave No. 15/17 Bentley University all it could handle on Tuesday night from Hammel Court, but the visitors held on for a 59-53 victory to close out the regular season. Based on Tuesday's results, the Navy and Gold qualified for the Northeast-10 Champsionship as the fifth seed in the Northeast Division and will travel to fourth-seeded Pace out of the Southwest on Friday night for a 7 p.m. game.
The Basics
Score: #15/17 Bentley 59, Merrimack 53
Records: Merrimack (12-14, 10-11 NE10) | #15/17 Bentley (24-4, 20-1 NE10)
Location: Hammel Court | North Andover, Mass.
Senior Night:
Before tip against the Falcons, the Warriors honored the careers of seniors My'Asia Alston (Cohoes, N.Y.) and Savannah Johnson (Palmdale, Calif.) as part of the Senior Night ceremony. Both players played in two years with Navy and Gold as junior-college transfers and will be playing in their first career postseason games come Friday night.
The Turning Point:
The final three minutes of the game saw the Warriors score just two points after being within one possession at 53-51 with 3:06 remaining. Merrimack committed a pair of turnovers over the final minutes, and Macchi Smith was perfect from the charity stripe to secure the Bentley victory.
NE10 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 on Friday, Feb. 24. Merrimack qualified for the postseason due to its season sweep of Saint Michael's, and will travel to Pace University on Friday night at 7 p.m. for an opening-round game.
1) Bentley (20-1)
2) Assumption (14-7)
3) Saint Anselm (13-8)
4) Stonehill (11-10)
5) Merrrimack (10-11)
6) Saint Michael's (10-11)
7) Southern New Hampshire (6-15)
8) Franklin Pierce (1-20)
How It Happened (First Quarter)
- With the score tied at four-all through two minutes, the Falcons scored five unanswered points to take a 9-4 lead with 6:05 remaining. The Warriors responded with a 5-0 run of their own, spurned by a three-point play from freshman Denia Davis-Stewart (Dorchester, Mass.) and a lay-in from Johnson
- The score was tied at 11-all with three minutes left before a 3-pointer from Amy McConnell gave the visitors a three-point lead. Both teams went the final 2:28 of the frame without scoring, allowing the Falcons to enter the second with the advantage
How It Happened (Second Quarter)
- The first five minutes of the second quarter saw the teams combine for just eight points, with Merrimack pulling within one possession multiple times. The score sat in Bentley's favor, 18-17, with 4:14 left after two free throws from sophomore Lindsay Werner (Groton, Mass.)
- Behind the play of All-American Jen Gemma, the Falcons went on a 9-1 run to make it a 27-18 game entering the final possession. Gemma netted the first six points of the run, finishing the half with eight overall. Freshman Alyssa Torres (Bohemia, N.Y.) made it a 27-20 game at the half by hitting a baseline runner as time expired
How It Happened (Third Quarter)
- The Warriors came on strong in the third, starting the quarter on a 7-1 run that ended with a right-wing 3-pointer from Alston that prompted a Bentley timeout with 6:43 remaining and the deficit down to one, 28-27. Thirty seconds later sophomore Hannah Neild (Litchfield, N.H.) gave the Warriors the lead, 30-28, after her first trey of the night
- A Lauren Green triple put Bentley in front, 33-32, but Johnson responded with four straight points courtesy of fast-break feeds from Alston and Werner to make it a 36-33 game with 3:28 left
- Bentley embarked on an 8-0 run to immediately transform the game into a 41-36 lead in its favor, but another last-season bucket from Torres made it a 41-38 game after 30 minutes
How It Happened (Fourth Quarter)
- Neild hit her second triple of the night to immediately tie the contest at 41-all. After Gemma and sophomore Lexi Martin (Franklin, Mass.) exchanged buckets, the Falcons went on a 6-0 run highlighted by a four-point play from Trevena Bennett to push their advantage to six, 49-43, with 6:37 remaining
- A 6-2 spurt that featured buckets from Martin, Neild and Davis-Stewart brought the Warriors within two, 51-49, with 3:06 to play. Bentley ended the game on a 8-4 stretch to keep the Warriors at arms length, preventing a Merrimack upset
Inside The Numbers
- The offensive glass proved to be the deciding factor in the game, with the Falcons outrebounding the Warriors 23-12. The 11-board advantage results in Bentley's 27-6 edge in second-chance points
- Johnson's Senior Night featured a nine-point, seven-rebound performance while Alston posted seven points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals. She led the team in helpers and swipes
- Davis-Stewart nearly posted a rebounds-blocks double-double with 14 boards and eight rejections. The blocks total marked a new season high for the rookie, and was just the 18th game nationally this season with eight-plus blocks. She fell one rejection short of the region-high
- Martin led the team in scoring with 12 points, while Neild chipped in 10 off the bench on 4-of-5 shooting and two 3-pointers
- Gemma finished the night with a double-double of 23 points and 13 rebounds, 11 of which came on the offensive glass. She shot 8-of-22 overall and 6-of-9 from the free-throw line
Up Next
Merrimack advances to the NE10 Championship on Friday as the fifth seed in the Northeast Division. The Warriors will face fourth-seeded Pace University out of the Southwest in a 7 p.m. contest in Pleasantville, N.Y.
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