Women's Basketball Drops Semifinal Matchup at Sacred Heart

NORTH ANOVER, MASS. – The Merrimack College women's basketball season came to an end on Thursday afternoon with a loss to Sacred Heart University in the NEC semifinals. Amaya Staton recorded a double-double after scoring 10 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Kaylee Thomas led the Warriors in scoring with 14 points. Marissa Hamilton was the third Warrior in double figures with 12 points. She also had four rebounds.

The Essentials
Score: Merrimack 61, Sacred Heart 68
Records: Merrimack (15-16, 10-6 NEC) | Sacred Heart (17-13, 12-4 NEC)
Location: William H. Pitt Center, Fairfield, CT

Rapid Recap
● Hamilton opened up the game for the Warriors with a three pointer to tie the score. The Warriors would go on a small run after Hamilton hit both her free throws and a Stanton layup to give the Warriors an early lead. After the pioneers would take the lead back from a 5-0 run, Jayme DeCesare would hit a three to make the score 10-8. Sacred would take the lead back again until an Ava Owens layup and Stanton bucket would give the Warriors a two point lead out the first. The second quarter would get started with the Pioneers making both of their free throws until Thomas made a three to make the score 17-14. The two teams would trade buckets until the Pioneers went on a 8-0 run to give them the 26-19 lead. This was stopped when DeCesare would get a jumper to go. Sacred Heart would get three more points to go into the half 29-21.
 
● The third quarter would get started with a Thomas layup to give the Warriors some momentum. The two teams traded baskets as Stanton would get two points and Hamilton would get three points from the free throw line. The Pioneers would go on another run to push their lead up to 14, which was halted with a Stanton jumpshot and a hook shot following. The teams would trade baskets again as Jada Powell, Lydia Melaschenko, and Thomas would get points for their team to shorten the Pioneers lead by nine. As the Warriors battled back in the fourth quarter, Diamond Christian would make presence known as she made three threes to help keep the game close for her team. Free throws from DeCesare would shorten Sacred Heart's lead by seven. As the two teams traded points, the Warriors could not push past the Pioneers seven point lead as they were defeated 68-61.

Notes and Numbers
● Stanton would get her third double-double of the year with her performance.
● DeCesare finished the game with four assist.
● Merrimack forced 13 turnovers.