LORETTO, P.A. – The Merrimack College Women's Basketball team battled against the Saint Francis University (PA) Red Flash on Saturday afternoon in a back-and-forth affair from start to finish. Merrimack started off hot in the first half and then Saint Francis came back in the second to eventually come away with the victory.
The Warriors once again had multiple players who finished the game in double figures making it the ninth time this season there was more than one Warrior who capped off a game with more than ten points. In this one, sophomore,
Teneisia Brown, finished with a team high in points with 17 and rebounds with nine. Graduate student,
Mayson Kimball, concluded today's matchup with 15 points of her own to go a long with eight rebounds and three assists. The Warriors also had junior,
Kaylee Thomas, who capped off the matchup with 13 points while going 2-3 from three and 5-7 from the free throw line.
The Basics
Score: Merrimack 62, Saint Francis University (PA) 70
Records: Merrimack (4-9, 2-3 NEC) | Saint Francis University (PA) (2-14, 2-3 NEC)
Location: Loretto, P.A.
Rapid Recap
- The first quarter was about as evenly matched as you'll ever see a quarter of basketball be played from a statistical perspective. It ended with the Warriors and Red Flash shooting the exact same field goal percentage while both going 6-16 from the field. To start the game, Merrimack saw their offense run through brown as she scored the first two buckets for the Warriors in the paint. Then junior, Jayme DeCesare, had the ball at the top of the key and flew past the Red Flash defense for a layup to give Merrimack a 10-5 lead. As the clock was ticking down in the first quarter, Thomas got a pass from DeCesare and buried a deep three to keep the lead heading into the second quarter.
- The second frame started right where Merrimack wanted it to as, Kimball (fresh off of scoring 1000 points last time out) pulled up right in front of a SFU defender a hit nothing but net on a mid-range shot. The Webster, N.H. native then went on to hit two more mid-range shots for the Warriors to give Merrimack six unanswered points. After a bit of a run for the Red Flash, Merrimack got a big play on the offensive side of the court when freshman, Ava Owens, snagged a rebound dished it out to DeCesare who then whipped a perfect feed out to an open Kimball who nailed the three to extend the Warrior lead to 28-24. SFU then took advantage and put-up consecutive buckets to take a one-point lead into the half.
- The third quarter was more of the same in terms of back and forth play from both sides. The Warriors picked up their defensive game coming out of the locker room as they held the Red Flash to shoot less than 30% from the field. After a run to start the quarter, senior, Kate Mager, received a beautiful pass from graduate student, Paige McCormick. The New City, N.Y. native launched a three ball and buried the shot to snag momentum back for the Warriors. That's when Kimball when back to work as she brought the ball up past half court to start the offense. She knifed her way through the defense and banked a shot off glass and in for two points. Then after trading buckets for most of the quarter, the Warriors turned defense into offense when Kimball snagged a defensive rebound and passed the ball up to junior, Diamond Christian, in transition. The Bronx, N.Y. native then whipped a nice no-look pass to Brown for two to have the Warriors feeling good going into the final frame.
- In another tight contested quarter, the Warriors started out hot. McCormick found the ball on the left side and decided to drive to the hoop, when the defense crashed to the paint, she then swung it out to Thomas who had nothing but time to bury a three to make it a six-point game in favor of SFU. About two minutes later, Mager found herself in a one-on-one matchup with a defender who was giving her far too much space as the sharpshooter chucked up a three and nailed it to make it 51-47 game, as the Warriors closed in on the lead. Unfortunately, it was too little too late as the Warriors just didn't quite have enough in the tank as the Red Flash eventually came away with this one 70-62.
Up Next
The Road Warriors will be back in action as they head to Emmitsburg, M.D. to take on the Mount Saint Mary's Mountaineers on Monday, January 17
th at 2:00 PM.
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For continuing coverage of Merrimack College Athletics, visit MerrimackAthletics.com and follow the Warriors on Twitter and on Facebook.
