NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College Women's Basketball team capped off one of their best overall performances of the season when they defeated the Bryant University Bulldogs by a score of 92-55.
The Warriors had one of their best offensive showings of the season and it seemed at times like they just couldn't miss as they shot an overall shooting percentage of 51.4%. Graduate Student,
Mayson Kimball, led all Warriors in scoring with 19 points while also collecting five rebounds. Right behind Kimball was senior guard,
Kate Mager, who finished with 17 points while shooting 50% from three-point range. Sophomore forward,
Teneisia Brown, continued her hot streak of play in this one capping off the contest with 17 points and five rebounds. Senior,
Carla Balague, had one of her best games of the season 14 points and playing an important 30 minutes of action. Junior guard,
Jayme DeCesare, once again filled the stat sheet up across the board as she finished with eight points, eight rebounds, and five assists.
The Basics
Score: Merrimack 92, Bryant University 55
Records: Merrimack (6-11, 4-5 NEC) | Bryant University (5-14, 3-6 NEC)
Location: North Andover, Mass.
Rapid Recap
- The Warrior got out to their best start this season putting up a season high 28 points in the opening frame. To make things even better the defense showed up early as well only allowing nine points from the Bulldogs while limiting them to go 2-12 from the field. Merrimack started the night off on the offensive glass with the ball finding its way to graduate student, Paige McCormick. The Heuvelton, N.Y. native then threw a sweet feed to Mager who floated it up and in for two. On the following possession, Kimball drove to the basket and then stopped in stride with a pull shot that fell for her first basket of the evening. Then after some back and forth play that saw the Bulldogs tie the game up, Balague found the ball in the post. She made a move to fake out a defender and then dished a pass out to DeCesare who chucked up a shot from beyond the arch that hit nothing but net. A few possessions later Kimball saw DeCesare get the crowd at Hammel Court going with her long range shot and decided to get in on the fun. The Webster, N.H. native got a perfect pass from junior, Diamond Christian, and had nothing but time to nail the triple. As time was expiring in the first quarter, the Warriors got a big defensive stand and turned it into transition. Freshman, Ava Owens, used her trademark speed to push the ball down the floor and then delivered a pass to a streaking Brown for the lay in.
- The second quarter started with a Bulldog possession that was stopped by the Warriors and Merrimack looked to turn it into points. DeCesare lobbed a pass up to Balague who then threw it over to an abandoned Mager who hit yet another three for the Warriors. After a bit of run for Bryant, Merrimack looked to get the momentum back and they did exactly that when Balague capitalized on a rebound chance and softly banked the shot in for two. After that, Kimball found herself in an isolation on defense and she took advantage with a drive to the lane, she then spun off her defender and floated one in to extend the Warrior lead to 21 with a few minutes left in the first half.
- After a dominant first half, the Warriors weren't finished in this one. The half started with a textbook play in the post by Brown. The sophomore, got the ball dribbled one way and then spun to the other opening up the shooting avenue where she scooped it up and in. Then after yet another defensive stand, DeCesare got the defensive rebound and chucked a home run pass to Kimball at the opposite end of the court. She then drained the jumper to ignite the Merrimack bench. In the third, the ball kept finding its way to Kimball as in the next offensive possession for Merrimack DeCesare found Kimball once again and the graduate student knocked home yet another three ball. DeCesare then decided it was her turn to get on the score board as she dribbled the clock all the way down and as the shot clock was expiring stepped back and hit nothing but the bottom of the net to send Hammel Court into a frenzy.
- The fourth quarter was a lot more of the same as Merrimack out scored Bryant 18-13. The Warriors closed this one out with great team basketball as junior, Kaylee Thomas, took the inbounds pass and found a running Owens who was behind the defense and she didn't miss to all but seal this one.
Up Next
Merrimack will return back to Hammel Court next Thursday, February 3
rd to go to battle against the Mount Saint Mary's Mountaineers at 7 PM.
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For continuing coverage of Merrimack College Athletics, visit MerrimackAthletics.com and follow the Warriors on Twitter and on Facebook.
