ALBANY – The College of Saint Rose women’s basketball team converted only seven field goals in the first half and was unable to overcome a 13-point halftime deficit as 12th seed Merrimack College handed the fifth-seeded Golden Knights (15-13) a 77-70 setback in the first round of the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament this afternoon.
“I’m just so proud of them. We just really grew as the season progressed. We have a lot of young kids who really stepped up. Nobody expected us to finish fifth at the beginning of the season, except us. Even when we were 3-9, the kids kept really working hard and kept their focus. That all really paid off,” said head coach Karen Haag.
Saint Rose shot a season-low 18.9 (7-for-37) percent from the floor throughout the opening 20 minutes, which translated into its lowest first half point total of the year as the Warriors (12-16) went into the locker room up 34-21 at the break. Merrimack furthermore held the Golden Knights without a field goal during a 5:52 span to jump out to a 20-8 lead at the midway point.
The Warriors still maintained a double-digit, 57-47, advantage with 7:25 left in the game, but junior forward
Amy Voelkel sparked a 10-5 run for Saint Rose with a fast break layup. Junior guard
Lynsey Timbrouck also knocked down a pair of buckets, sophomore forward
Ali Johnson finished in the paint and sophomore guard
Ola Shajuyigbe capped things off with another layup in transition to cut the Golden Knights’ deficit to five, 62-57, with 2:49 remaining.
However, that was as close as Saint Rose could get the rest of the way. The Golden Knights began putting Merrimack on the foul line to gain more ground, but the Warriors put things out of reach by burying 11-of-14 attempts from the stripe over the final 1:29 to earn a quarterfinal berth at fourth seed Bentley University on Tuesday night.
Senior guard
Elizabeth Buckley canned a long ball with 23 seconds left to get Saint Rose within five, 74-69, for the third time in the final three minutes. Merrimack then sealed things for good when sophomore guard Gennifer Roy made it a three possession game via two more free throws at the other end.
Johnson paced four players in double-figures for the Golden Knights with 19 points to go with nine rebounds. Shajuyigbe tossed in 12 points, while Voelkel recorded her third “double-double” of the year behind 11 points and 10 boards. Rath added 11 points as well.
Also for Saint Rose, Buckley drained a pair of treys to finish with six points in the contest and 994 career points. She ranks fifth in school history with 172, 3-pointers.
Roy and junior guard Sarah Benischek poured in 20 points apiece to lead the Warriors. Meanwhile, junior guard Taneka Brown chipped in 11 points in 16 minutes off the pine and senior guard Casey Miller contributed 10 points.
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