Senior Paige Marshall led the Skyhawks with 18 points on Friday night. (PHOTO BY Peter Buehner) |
Marshall leads with 18 points as Skyhawks defense the difference
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (February 26, 2016) – Northeast Division No. 5 seed Stonehill College held Southwest No. 4 Le Moyne College to 32-percent shooting to claim a 56-51 victory in first round action of the 2016 Northeast-10 Conference Women's Basketball Tournament on Ted Grant Court tonight.
Stonehill (15-13, 9-12 NE-10), which is competing in the NE-10 Tournament for the 35th straight season, advances to Sunday's quarterfinal round where it will face rival Bentley University (22-5, 16-5 NE-10), the top seed from the Northeast Division, on Sunday at 2 p.m. The Falcons, ranked first in the NCAA Division II East Region ranking and receiving votes in the D2SIDA Top 25 poll, received a first round bye in the tournament. Le Moyne sees its season come to a close at 13-14 overall, including 10-10 in the NE-10.
Senior Paige Marshall (Braintree, Massachusetts/Braintree) paced the Stonehill offense with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field, including 2-for-3 from three-point range, while converting 2-of-3 free-throws. She also added three rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots and a steal for the contest. Junior Kelly Martin (Scituate, Massachusetts/Scituate) was the only other Skyhawk in double-figures with ten points, aided by 7-of-8 shooting from the free-throw line to go with seven assists, six rebounds and two steals.
Sophomore Samantha Hyslip (Westford, Massachusetts/Westford Academy) chipped in six points and six rebounds, while senior Shannon Brown (Las Vegas, Nevada/Centennial) registered eight points and four boards.
Senior Vandell Andrade (Cranston, Rhode Island/St. Mary's-Bay View) led Le Moyne with a game-high 21 points on 9-of-22 shooting, converting 3-of-5 free-throws, while adding six rebounds (four offensive) and two steals. Freshman Melanie Quijano (San Diego, California/Horizon Christian) added 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including 4-for-9 from three-point range, with three assists, while senior Maggie Brown (Cortland, New York/Cortland) recorded six points and a game-high seven boards.
Junior Kelly Martin pulled down six rebounds to go with seven assists and ten points tonight. (PHOTO BY Peter Buehner) |
Stonehill finished shooting 47.6-percent from the field (20-for-42), including 7-for-8 (87.5%) in the second quarter and 4-for-6 (66.7%) in the fourth. The Skyhawks were 3-for-7 from three-point distance and converted 13-of-16 (81.3%) free throws. Stonehill held a 34-33 rebounding edge, but Le Moyne hauled in 17 offensive boards and stayed in the game with an 18-8 advantage in points off turnovers with the Skyhawks committing 17. The Dolphins were limited to 32.3-percent shooting (20-for-61), including 5-for-15 (33.3%) from beyond the arc, and made just 6-of-11 (54.5%) of their free-throws.
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Stonehill overcame a slow start to take a two point lead after a quarter of play. Le Moyne led by five (7-2) three minutes in, but the Skyhawks outscored the Dolphins 11-4 over the remainder of the quarter to take the lead (13-11) after a Brown jumper with eight seconds left. Marshall pulled Stonehill even with a three-pointer with 1:06 remaining.
Stonehill opened the second quarter with a 14-2 run to claim a game-high 14 point lead (27-13) after a Brown jumper with four minutes left in the half. Five different Skyhawks scored in all during the run that gave the visitors control. Le Moyne followed with seven straight points to cut the gap in half (27-20) with two minutes remaining, but Stonehill scored the final five points of the quarter on a Marshall three-pointer and two Hyslip free-throws to regain a 12-point lead at the intermission (32-20).
Stonehill maintained a double-figure lead throughout the third quarter and still led by 13 (47-34) following a layup from freshman Maty Diabate (Holden, Massachusetts/Wachusett Regional) midway through the final quarter. Le Moyne closed the gap to five (47-42) with 1:43 to go after eight straight points from Andrade. The Skyhawks held there and kept the Dolphins at bay while converting 7-of-8 free-throws the rest of the way.
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