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Daryl Cioffi, Meghan Driscoll and Erika Stupinski won their 82nd game as a class on Saturday. |
North Easton, Mass. - Sophomore Erin Gray (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa) came off the bench to score a career-high 18 points on 8-for-8 shooting to lead No. 13 Stonehill to a convincing 76-45 win over Merrimack at Merkert Gymnasium this afternoon.
The win gives the Skyhawks at the very least a share of their first Northeast-10 regular season championship since the 1995-96 season and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Northeast-10 postseason tournament.
Stonehill can claim its first outright title since 1994-95 with a win in its final regular season game Tuesday at St. Anselm or with a Franklin Pierce loss at American International the same night.
With Gray leading the way, the Skyhawks got an astounding 54 points from their bench. She scored 16 points in the first half, most on easy layups as Erika Stupinski (Topsham, Maine/Mount Ararat) found her repeatedly wide open underneath.
Fueled by the easy baskets by Gray and five first half three-pointers, Stonehill jumped out 24-12 lead midway through the frame before settling for a 39-28 halftime edge.
Things remained the same in the second half as Kelsey Simonds (Middleboro, Mass./Cardinal Spellman) took over the initial moments, going on a personal 8-0 run to open up the Skyhawks margin to 47-28.
That burst was followed by a 15-7 spurt from Stonehill the moved the lead out of reach at 62-35 with 6:55 remaining.
Merrimack, which scored only 17 second half points, was held to 20 percent shooting in the second half and 31 percent for the game.
The Skyhawks capitalized on 17 Warrior miscues turning them into 20 points.
Stonehill connected on a season-high 10 three-pointers, with three each coming from freshmen Kristen McWhirter (Melvin Village, N.H./The New Hampton School), Ashley Caiafa (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) and sophomore Megan Methven (Corning, N.Y./Corning Painted Post East).
Gray did her damage in just 20 minutes, while Simonds, who scored 12 of her 14 points in the second half, played only 12 minutes.
Stupinski, meanwhile, handed out a season-high 13 assists to go along with seven points, four rebounds and two steals. McWhirter added 10 points and Caiafa totaled nine points and six rebounds.
Meghan Driscoll (Bridgewater, Mass./Bridgewater-Raynham), who along with Stupinski and Daryl Cioffi (New Milford, N.J./Immaculate Heart), were honored prior to the game as a part of senior day activities, made her second start of the season and contributed six rebounds.